Batman Beyond: The Legacy Returns
by Jetplague
Summary: It has been years since we last saw Terry McGinnis as the caped cusader, now returning after years of absence and Bruce Wayne's death, he now has to decide if he should continue his life as Batman...or will he leave Gotham City forever.
1. Default Chapter

Batman Beyond: The Legacy Returns  
  
By Jeff Walker  
  
Based on "Batman" created by Bob Kane and the "Batman Beyond" Animated series.  
  
Prologue –  
  
Bruce Wayne, former Batman and personal mentor to Terry McGinnis, is now dead. Having been plagued by continuing strokes and heart problems; Wayne finally succumbed to his failing health. Before his death, Bruce urged McGinnis to take time to put down the costume life and finish his education. For a while, young Terry didn't heed to Bruce's advice and continued to battle the crime of Gotham City. But this life became destructive to Terry on a personal level, his mother met a new man and planned to marry, his brother was rebelling from the new union by constantly running away, his girlfriend Dana broke up with him as he neglected her and Bruce was slowly deteriorating before his very eyes. The burden was too much for the young man and with one last tour of the city as Batman; he hung up the suit and finally gave in to Wayne's suggestion. He was tired of watching everyone else live their lives way they wanted and having nothing of his own. Terry traveled the world, studied and was taught by all the masters that Bruce had learned from. Wayne was only too happy to send him to his former schools and give Terry the chance to learn and not live in vengeance all of his life. Wayne was afraid the boy would become as alone and isolated as he had become, all those years of fighting crime gave him no family, no children...no life.  
  
Terry's life had been a rocky one, just as Wayne's was when he was a child. Both had to witness the horror of loved ones being murdered, Bruce had both parents killed in front of his eyes and McGinnis's father was slain upon his return home. Terry took the mantle of being Batman only to avenge his father's death, much as Bruce had for his parents. Now the young man was beginning to see why Bruce was so alone, the sleepless nights of patrolling the city, the constant bruises and broken bones and the strain of keeping relationships in his daily life took their toll on him. Dana had waited for him for years; she never understood his devotion to Wayne, nor his constant routine of breaking dates with her on spur of the moments. She blasted him for never being there and told him that she was dating another man, one that was always around and cared for her in time of need. McGinnis was crushed; the reason for being this dark knight no longer appealed to him and swore he'd never be that 'thing' ever again. To him, Batman was dead. Gotham City had no appeal to him anymore and voyaged beyond it with no intent on returning ever again.  
  
As Bruce and Terry kept in touch during his education, it was decided that McGinnis would become the rightful heir to the Wayne fortune and the legal owner of the company he fought so hard to get back. Terry was hesitant to say no to his old mentor, he knew that meant he'd have to return one day to that city of sin he swore off years ago, but how could he refuse this great man who changed his life forever. Then, the day finally came as Bruce Wayne died in his home a few months after the documents we're signed. In a chair he sat all by himself, by the fireplace where the portrait of his mother and father hung, Terry's last email message was still clasped in his hand. On the small palm pilot like device, which the letter was kept on, was a final thought of Terry's that Bruce had been reading.  
  
It read:  
  
Bruce, forgive me but I've changed my mind...I no longer wish to be the rightful heir. I want to live my own life and not live in the shadow of yours anymore. If you are angry I'm sorry, but I never want to come back to Gotham City ever again. We've talked about this time and time again, but having seen and learned so much, it's opened my eyes to better possibilities and new ideas. You have been like a father to me and I thank you for your kindness, your wisdom and even being part of your special 'family'. But I want to have no part of becoming the empty shadow to you anymore. Bruce, you are Batman, but I now know I will never be anything but a kid who borrowed you're suit for a short time. I'm not Batman...I am myself. Please send me your thoughts on this soon.  
  
Take care and remember to take your meds.  
  
Terry  
  
Chapter One – Funeral For A Friend.  
  
The sound of organ music filled the huge gothic looking cathedral, the inside was full of large pillars that stretched for many feet. Stain glass windows adorned the Christian religious icons and the center window that nearly took up an entire wall was that of the Son of God himself. The music was haunting as the place was packed with mourning attendants, dressed in black suits and black dresses, the pews were filled with famous faces of the day and that of ordinary people coming to pay their respects. On the large alter, sat a casket in deep black polished wood, the brass rims and side handles shone from the many lights and candles lit the cathedral as much as it could. The organ continued to play its somber tune and soon the voices of children's choir joined in as they sang their hearts out in praise. In the front pew sat an old Caucasian woman dress in black with her arm around a man looking very dapper in his suit and tie of black. The man couldn't take his eyes off the casket, blinking lightly a few times; he stared away at the wooden coffin and kept a blank look on his face. The music and chorus came to a finish and a robed priest came to the podium beside the casket, his arms lifted up and began talking loud enough for all to hear his voice.  
  
"We are gathered here today my brothers and sisters, to pray for the soul of the greatest individual whoever lived. Generous and caring to all those he knew or didn't know. His legacy will live on in all those who remember him fondly; Bruce Wayne was a man of principles and of integrity, a man who showed his respect for the community and to business industry itself. Money did not concern him when there was a just cause to be served, when Gotham was ravaged by the great Earthquake years ago, he was there to help rebuild it to a bold new glory. When the poor or underprivileged needed donations or help in their needs, Wayne was always there to give them his charity."  
  
In the crowd watching the sermon, many faces of old friends of his previous life looked on with tears and nodding of agreement to the priest's words. There were many sitting together a few rows down including his old rival Clark Kent, looking grey but yet still youthful in appearance. As he tilted his glasses looking at the front row with the young man sitting there, he sighed a bit and lifted his head back to continue listening to the speech.  
  
"We must never forget Bruce Wayne for all he has done for this City and to each of us." The priest continues to say. "As I look at the sea of people filling this sacred place today, I see that he was a man who was not only rich in life, but rich in friendships. For that will be his greatest achievement, not wealth, or power, or trying to keep a good image...no, his friendship, his love for all of you here today is what made him the richest man in Gotham."  
  
The young man in the front row sighed and stroked his back tie as if to straighten it. The older woman holding her arm around his shoulder looked at him with curious eyes and leaned in to whisper as the priest babbled on about the dead man.  
  
"What is it Terry?" She said softly to him. "Are you alright?"  
  
He turned his head to her and gave a light smirk.  
  
"It's...it's ok Barbara. I'm fine. I'm the one who should be asking you that."  
  
"I'm ok too Terry." She said to him with a small arm hug. "I've been ready for this day longer then you'll ever know. But deep down, I'm still sad he's gone from the world...just as you are feeling right now."  
  
On Terry's other side was his mother, she still looked good for her age and was holding his hand in comfort as she eavesdropped on their conversation. She took her other hand and stroked his cheek like a loving mother would to her son with a sad look. Terry gave her a nod in thanks and continued to look at the coffin sitting there before his eyes. As he phased out the sounds around him, of the people weeping all around and the priest giving his long-winded sermon, he could hear Bruce in his mind speaking to him as if he was right there. All those years of knowing the man behind the cowl gave him insight on what Bruce would have responded to him.  
  
"I should have been here for you." Terry spoke in his thoughts.  
  
"It wouldn't have made a difference kid." Bruce's voice echoes inside his mind. "You did what you needed to do...never have regrets."  
  
"My whole life has been nothing but regrets, Bruce. I get the feeling I should have turned left instead of going on those rights...I'm even sad to say I should have never even met you. Maybe all this wouldn't be the way it is."  
  
"That's nonsense." Bruce says sternly to him. "We all have choices to make and you made the ones right ones that took you from being some low life punk to the man you are today. I'm proud of you Terry. And so is your mother...and I'm sure your father is as well."  
  
"That's all well and good, Bruce. But this doesn't help at all...cause I know your not really talking to me and that you'll never be coming back to show me the way ever again."  
  
"True, but this is what you'd think I say to you isn't it?" Wayne's voice snickers to him. "I may be gone, but you are all that is left of me now. You'll have to make some hard choices soon enough...and you'll have to decide on what path you'll want to be on next. Just remember that whatever way you go...you alone made the choice, it's just a question of...can you live with it for the rest of your life?"  
  
"I don't know..." Terry mutters silently to himself.  
  
His mother looked at him as she heard his voice utter that last phrase.  
  
"Did you say something dear?"  
  
The young man snaps to attention as he hears her and shakes his head.  
  
"No...uh...just thinking to myself, sorry."  
  
The priest finally finished his speech and motioned everyone to stand on their feet. Together they all stood up and listened to the final score of music being played on the organ again. The choir sang the hymn that was being played as the mourners sang along with the lyrics. Terry raised his head up as he chose not to sing along and stared out blankly as he listened to the many voices becoming one in harmony.  
  
As the funeral came to a close, the long line of limos and cars drove to the cemetery and came to place where Bruce would now lay. It was mid- afternoon outside, the sun was obscured by the dark rainy storm clouds slowly building towards the huddled group around the casket as it slowly came to a rest at the bottom of it's grave. As the others turned and walked away, Terry stood still as he looked at the hole in the ground where his former friend now finally came to rest. A tap on his shoulder made him glance around, and saw a middle-aged man with strong looking features and graying dark hair.  
  
"Barbara is tired so I'm going to take her back." The man says.  
  
"Ok Dick." Terry nods. "Thanks for coming...I know you two never got along much in the end...but I know he'd be grateful that you came to see him one last time."  
  
"Yeah..." Dick snickers. "Batman and Robin together again, huh? If it hadn't been for that one argument in the cave...maybe I'd be still be with him...or laying next to him."  
  
Terry took offense to that and gave him a stern look.  
  
"Easy kid." Dick Grayson says as he pats him on the back. "It was just a small joke. Hell even Bruce would have laughed at that one. But then...in all the years he and I spent together, it seems you got to know him better then I ever would. Take care Terry..."  
  
Dick shakes the young man's hand and walks over to Barbara who's waiting for him. The thunder in the sky now sounds out as the rain begins to drip down on Terry; the only one left standing at Bruce's grave. As the rain soaks his head, he crouches down to the edge and drops down two long stem red roses he takes out from his inside jacket pocket. The roses fall into the darkness of the pit and finally hit the casket.  
  
"Goodbye Bruce."  
  
Suddenly another single white rose drops down and lays overtop of the other two. Terry looks up and sees a young woman wearing a dark blue raincoat and a black umbrella. Her long black hair drapes over her shoulders like a waterfall and her deep brown eyes give Terry an instant reason to know who she is.  
  
"Dana..." He gasps.  
  
"Hello Terry, sorry to hear about Mr. Wayne."  
  
He walks around the grave and comes face to face with her; his smile is only for a moment as he remembers that she is no longer with him. The quick retraction from her as he tries to embrace the woman is all to clear a message she doesn't want to be close to him anymore. A simple handshake is all she allows and looks at him with concern.  
  
"What...uh...what are you doing here?" He asks sheepishly.  
  
"I heard you came back to pay your respects and I thought I'd come to say mine. Mr. Wayne did a lot for Gotham and even helped you turn your life around."  
  
"That still doesn't explain why you came here...you could have gone to the church to do that."  
  
She flutters her eyes a bit as she tries to explain and looks at him with a serious look.  
  
"I wanted to know if you were alright, that's all. Don't read too much into this Terr...I'm just a friend checking on someone who doesn't even bother to write to me in all the years he's been away."  
  
Terry sighs and rolls his eyes on her comment.  
  
"Look what did you want me to say? Hi Dana, how are things? Thanks for telling me I'm a thoughtless creep on our final meeting and ...oh...good to hear your getting married to a guy I don't even know the name of?"  
  
She became frustrated at him and shook her head in disbelief at his answer.  
  
"Just like you told me you were leaving and never coming back, huh? Even if we did break up, we were still good friends...you could have at least let me know!"  
  
McGinnis paced back and forth in anger and pointed at her bitterly.  
  
"Oh come on...that's such total crap Dana! You expected me to be all chummy with you after we split? That was the most painful memory of my whole life, not to mention a huge future I had envisioned with you shot down the drain! You broke my heart!"  
  
"You broke mine first!" She screamed back with tears. "I waited for you Terry! I watched girlfriends get married and going out with their boyfriends who always had the time to be with the ones that they loved. And where were you? Off on some stupid errand for old Wayne and never telling him you'd rather be with the woman you love instead. Now I really don't know why I came here anymore...I hated Mr. Wayne! But most of all Terry...I hated...still hate you!"  
  
The woman ran off crying as she said her peace at him. The young man looked on as she ran back to her car and drove off out of the cemetery. Terry grasped his face with emotion and wept as the argument once again overpowered him completely. Turning to the grave he saw Wayne's tombstone sitting there and kicked it with his foot. The stone wasn't really fixed on the ground and the strong hit Terry gave it made the headstone fall down. As it came crashing down, a bolt of lightening streaked across the sky and Terry screamed into the pouring rain.  
  
"I hate you Wayne!! I hate you!! You ruined my life!!"  
  
As he collapsed onto the ground, still sobbing away, the voice of Bruce once again came into his head as he answered him.  
  
"I didn't ruin your life Terry...you did. Vengeance has its price and its sacrifices."  
  
Those cursed words echoed over and over in his brain, as he shed his final tears and walked away from the open grave. As the young man shivered from being wet, he took one last look at the site and gave a scowl at it.  
  
"Damn you Bruce...you should have stopped me long ago. You should have stopped me before it was too late."  
  
Lightening once again lit up the sky as he said those final words and walked away with his hands in his pockets and his black suit collar turned up to protect him from the cold. 


	2. Welcome Home Terry

Chapter Two – Welcome Home Terry  
  
The clash of thunder and lightening grumbled in the dark skies overhead, as the rain slowly came to an end. On the ground below, a pair of lights came racing around a narrow winding road that led straight to the top of a hill. The light was beginning to fade outside as the afternoon transformed into the ever coming of darkness. A futuristic hover car was now visible as the beaming headlights gave way, a rather expensive looking model that had a sliver polished appearance. On the side of the vehicle was large green letters on side doors, it read, "Gotham Budget Flyers". The hovering rental car was being used by Terry McGinnis, who pulled up to a large rusted gate sitting at the top of the hill and looked as if it was ready to fall off from it's broken, weather beaten hinges. The powerful headlights on the futuristic car beamed on the logo that was cracked and broken. Terry got out of the vehicle and walked over to the gates, with one small push he managed to send the rusted steel crashing to the ground where it nearly shattered in pieces. Neglect of the stately Wayne Manor was obvious, it seems that Bruce didn't want to keep the hired help around to maintain the building. Now Terry could finally see why he should never have left, his old mentor was just as stubborn with him as he was with the hired help. He must have disagreed with the various workers on their tasks and fired the entire lot of them. Funny, he wouldn't have talked to his friend and father figure Alfred Pennyworth that way.  
  
Stepping through the decaying archway, the young man walked up the cracked wet pavement and looked at the overgrown verge on the front estate. As he came to the main doors, he noticed that they weren't locked and stepped in without having to use his old fashion key that many used in the previous century. As he walked down the main lobby and past the grand staircase leading to the next floor, he was amazed at how bad the housekeeping was. He knew Wayne wasn't interested in maintaining the place when he met him, but this time, if a building inspector came here the place would be recommended for demolition. As he turned into the large sitting room where Bruce often sat in front of the fireplace, he looked at the faded picture of Wayne's parents and the old photos sitting on the mantle. Images of friends and other heroes that Bruce knew in their alter egos adorned the fireplace shelf like a roster of who's who. Selina Kyle (Catwoman), Clark Kent (Superman), Commissioner Gordon, a younger image of Barbara Gordon (Batgirl) and even one of Dick Grayson and himself in happier times.  
  
"How can I possibly live up to this?" McGinnis utters aloud. "This was his life, not mine."  
  
The striking of the grandfather clock catches his attention and looks at the old antique with fondness. Raising his hand to it, he touches the button that activates it and stands back as the clock slides over to reveal the Bat cave entrance. The echo of the gears grinding to a halt went down the dark narrow staircase and Terry stood at the top looking into the deep tunnel leading in. With a heartfelt sigh, he walked down into the Bata cave and felt along the wall for the light switch as he reached the bottom of the stairs. As he turned on each one, the lights exposed the vast cave and all of the various levels of Batman's gadgets, labs and equipment. The lights even shone down on his museum of costumes of old villains and props they used. Terry walked over to the glass case containing the old costumes of Batman and his 'family'. The tattered, bullet hole ridden out fits were sealed in an airtight locker that preserved them from the elements. And then, there at the end of the long line was his old suit. Black as midnight with a large red bat logo, the high tech suit was one of a kind and something McGinnis found to be impressive even to this day. A true lasting testament to Bruce Wayne's superior intelligence and natural flair for technical innovation. Terry never had Wayne's creative nature, in fact he wasn't even sure how the suit function most of the times. Pressing his hand up to the glass case and looking at his old bat costume, the young man's face showed sadness.  
  
"I'm no Batman...I'm just his shadow."  
  
Suddenly, a loud beep came from the massive computer behind him and a voice echoed out into the whole cave.  
  
"Welcome home, Terry."  
  
McGinnis looks all around and recognizes the deep booming voice immediately.  
  
"Bruce..."  
  
"I rigged the computer to activate this recording the minute you spoke." Wayne's voice spoke in his throaty, Batman-like manner. "If you're down here, that means that I've died and now you're left wondering what to do with all of this."  
  
Terry smirks, "You could say that."  
  
"On the console is another button I've installed. I had it covered a long time ago just incase I ever needed to rig it, but seeing how my time is nearly over...I decided to finally put it back on. Terry, this button is linked to a string of bombs strategically placed at the base of this cavern. Once activated, it will destroy the foundation of this cliff and send the entire estate into the water down below. Nothing about it's destruction will look un-natural, seeing how this place is falling apart anyway...I don't think anyone will question its demise."  
  
McGinnis's mouth opens in shock as he hears Bruce admit to having the Bat cave primed for destruction. And while he walks over to the computer to look at the said button, Wayne continues his pre-recorded instructions.  
  
"Before you terminate everything, I want you to take the time to think about what this means. Without this cave, without this house and everything in it...you won't have any place to call home anymore. The Wayne line ends here once it's done...so I want you to really think hard about this before activating that switch. I know we talked about you taking over for me, Wayne Enterprises and Batman are now yours to do with as you see fit."  
  
"Great." Terry sighs as he now sits into the command chair at the computer.  
  
"Choices are never easy kid. I made mine a long time ago and I never regretted it since then, the time will come for you to decide on where you want to go in life next and the only person who can make that critical decision is you. Good luck Terry...and remember only to push the button when you're ready."  
  
The voice soon drops off and McGinnis folds his arms over as he mulls over the choice in his head. Looking at the red button on the console, he reaches over to push it. Then suddenly, he stops, his eyes give a look of concern and retracts his hand quickly.  
  
"No...no not yet." He says in a whisper. "I need more time to think this through."  
  
As he spins the chair around and runs his hands through his hair in confusion, his foot touches something on the floor. Looking down he sees a silver studded red dog collar and chain. He picks it up in his hands and rubs it with his fingers. The old hound that Wayne used to have, the one that Terry took many times to go hunt criminals with as Batman, no longer exists. The hound died long before he left Gotham, the dog was already old in years and when its time came...it devastated Bruce. This dog and he had history together, just as it did with Terry; even now McGinnis wishes the 'mutt' were still there to comfort him. Placing it back on the floor with care, Terry rose from his seat and looked at the cave. Could he destroy all this? Such history and memories that have been collected and stored with great care, if there was to be an answer to that question, he'd have to go visit the one person left that can be openly honest with him.  
  
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Gotham City.  
  
The futuristic, neon filled electric hub, shines in the darkness like an overly lit birthday cake. Ground vehicles are slowly being phased out and now the city skyline is becoming a sea of hover car traffic. The tall oddly shaped skyscrapers look like they were designed by retro-futurists who envisioned a chaotic style of architecture. Noise was everywhere, large media screens advertised things of every brand and style, and even holo- images beamed in the night sky gave a 3D effect to the products being displayed. It wasn't hard to see why some would like to leave this place; Gotham City was a noise and visually polluted place. Visitors would marvel at the sheer wonder of it all, it was like stepping into the largest amusement park of the world. But deep down below the flashing lights and impressive upper sections of the city, was the forgotten and often crime ridden base to all of it. Since road vehicles were becoming extinct, traffic was nearly non-existent, and so was any sort of clean up. The streets were littered with papers, loose garbage and the pavement cracked without repairs. The city no longer focuses on keeping them updated, funds for that now have become diverted to other areas of more immediate concern. Skyways and upper city infrastructure now top the list of major spending.  
  
As the calm dark streets of lower Gotham whistle with slow winds and the odd pedestrian walking by, a massive explosion rocks the area, as one of the buildings becomes a fiery blaze. Watching the building burn and howling at its destruction are a group of costumed people that look like they belong in the circus. Their painted faces and non-stop giggling is the mark of the one true dominant gang in all of Gotham City, the Jokers. A band of punks, thugs and rebelling youth that uses chaos and cruel pranks to get their kicks. They are an unwanted living tribute to Batman's old rival and one that has steadily been getting out of hand. Terry has deal with this gang many times, no more then a passing nuisance to him, but one that had to be watched very carefully. Without Batman in the City to stop them anymore, they went on a wild spree and took out other gangs that didn't join theirs. The police did their best in trying to keep this dangerous band from threatening the citizens, but as the years progressed, the Jokers became increasingly more violent and more organized.  
  
As the bunch sat there and cheered on their handiwork, a squad of police hover cars came from every direction and tried to corner the thugs as they were spotted. The cops chased the ones trying to run away and maintained a bright spotlight on them, the Jokers continued to giggle and laugh as they fled and soon stopped once the police managed get out of the vehicles and tackled them to the ground. One squad car came flying down after the others were finished their job, and landed in the center where the building still burned intensely. Out of the car stepped a young looking African American woman, she had a pinkish-orange dyed hair pulled back in a pony tail and full red ruby lips to match. Not dressed like the other officers, who had black body armored two piece suits and face shielded helmets, she wore a short leathery black jacket, faded blue jeans that showed off all of her curves and a white T-shirt that stopped just above her stomach. This was a vision of beauty that any man would fall for, but something in her eyes and her posture gave the obvious signal that she was tough and very serious about her job.  
  
"Commissioner! Commissioner!" A policeman yells to her as he comes running up.  
  
"Give me the 411 trooper...did you bag this bunch?" She says to the man as he finally stops in front of her.  
  
"We think so..."  
  
"Don't think...Know! Did you get them all?" She says sternly.  
  
"Yes...Yes we did sir...I mean mam...I mean..."  
  
She smirks at the guy stuttering at her as he looks for the proper words to say.  
  
"Never mind guy...I know what you meant. See to it you lock this batch up and give me a full report later."  
  
"Yes Commissioner!" The man replies as he salutes.  
  
As he runs back to the captured prisoners, the Commissioner looks at the flaming building and watches the fire and emergency vehicles come flying down and putting out the fire. Her eyes give a weakness as she stares at the damage and gives a long sigh.  
  
"Damn Jokers. Where do they get this awful toys?"  
  
As the police cuff and place the prisoners into the squad cars, one lone thug that managed to get away peeks out from a dark ally a few feet away from the scene. Looking directly at the Commissioner woman, the clown- faced criminal points his hand at her and motions his finger like a gun.  
  
"Bang, Bang...you're dead pretty lady."  
  
He snickers about this comment and quickly dashes off down the dark alleyway and vanishes in the night.  
  
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Returning to the large police headquarters in the center of Gotham City, the female Commissioner rushes through the room full of cops bringing in criminals, writing reports and those just about to go on duty. As she quickly walks past them all they give a welcome nod to her and even greet her with a delightful pat to the arm. One rookie male cop tries to speak to her and before he can utter a word she puts her hand up to his face and doesn't stop.  
  
"Not now kid...give me a few minutes."  
  
She walks into an office and closes the door. On the door, etched in the glass and stained black is her title. Gotham City Police Commissioner Maxine Gibson is what the door clearly has printed on it, and as the door finally shuts the glass tints dark so that no one can see inside. Maxine takes off her black leather jacket and walks over to the large window that shows all of Gotham City for her. She sighs again as she tries to calm down from rushing in and folds her arms over in thought.  
  
"God...I need a vacation."  
  
"Want me to book it?" A voice booms out from behind her.  
  
As she spins around to see who it is, her eyes light up and screams with delight.  
  
"Terry! I'd know that sexy voice anywhere!"  
  
The young man comes stepping out of the office corner and gives her a big smile as they meet again.  
  
"Hey Max. Or should I call you Commissioner Maxine?"  
  
Running over, the woman gives him a hug and then laughs.  
  
"I'm still Max you null head. Sit down and give me the details! Where have you been? Did you get married? Come on Terr, tell me everything!"  
  
He grabs a chair in front of her antique desk and sits down. She walks behind her desk and sits with anticipation as she waits to hear all about his life.  
  
"Well first off...I'm not here by choice."  
  
"Oh yeah..." She suddenly realizes. "Sorry to hear about Mr. Wayne. I would have gone to his funeral...but you know...crime never takes a time out."  
  
Terry looks at her nameplate sitting on the desk and snickers in disbelief.  
  
"It's ok. Bruce would have understood. But man...when did you become Commissioner? The last time we spoke you were only thinking of joining up with the police force."  
  
She leaned back in her chair and laughed.  
  
"Well obviously I got the job. I trained for it, got my first rookie assignment and did my very best to protect and serve."  
  
"Let me guess...Wayne helped you out?" Terry guesses.  
  
"Naw. Wayne tried...but I refused. I wanted to do this all by myself and not have some rich man try to guide me in by the hand. Barbara Gordon gave me the recommendation, I had swiftly made Lieutenant by then and when she saw me in action...she was very impressed. I also had made friends with a lot of the people here and they all felt I was the best one to lead the team. Just didn't figure I'd end up the one to get the job at such a young age."  
  
Terry is amazed at her story and places her nameplate back onto her desk.  
  
"I'm glad for you Max. You got your life together...and you know where you want to go."  
  
Max looks at him with concern as he says that and leans in towards him.  
  
"What is it Terry? I know that look of yours means something's eating at you...so spill it."  
  
Terry gives a quite sigh, "Wayne has given me everything. The house, the company, the money, and his batcave. I just...I don't know what to do Max. On the one hand, I want to throw it all away and say 'goodbye old life' and get the hell out of here. On the other hand, I don't want to let the man down and bury the Batman legend forever."  
  
Max sat there thinking about it. She knew of Terry's and Wayne's secret, she knew all about Batman, the cave and the legendary work that Bruce had done for this city. As a very good friend of Terry's, she always was the one he'd come to for extra advice outside of Wayne's wisdom. They'd been quite the crime solving team back then, she often helped him do the detective work and even got in trouble a few times. That's what made her decide to become an officer. Rather then fight crime in a silly costume and be a sidekick, she wanted to do some real good and help the real heroes that fight the battle everyday. As she looked at the young man with a lost look in his eyes, she tried to give him the best advice she could.  
  
"Listen Terr...if you want to live your own life, then the best bet is to just let it all go. Bruce probably knew you'd never accept the lifestyle he was accustomed too and would be happy if you went either way."  
  
"That's what he said." He replied.  
  
"That's good." She said comfortingly. "But I also know, that this city needs Batman more then ever. The crime is going out of control here now that he's gone and every nut job that thinks he can get away with anything is going on free for all. I don't blame you for wanting to shed the costume life; hell I was just glad you didn't drag me in to it either. The point is that I think you can still do some good with Wayne's money and influence."  
  
Terry slumped in his chair, placed his left elbow on the arm and held the side of his face with his hand.  
  
"I dunno Max...being away from Gotham and not having to be Batman gave me a fresh look on things. Maybe I should just give the money to the cops and help them beef up their forces."  
  
Maxine stands up and walks over to the window, looking out of it she watches the police cruisers fly by and head down to the lower levels of the city.  
  
"I won't lie to you, all the money in the world won't help the situation out there. The Jokers are becoming the number one gang of Gotham since you left, they've been on a major crime spree several times and becoming more dangerous each passing day. It's like...they're getting help from someone. Someone that has the means of getting some major fire power."  
  
Terry looks at her with concern, "You're kidding?"  
  
"I wish I was." The female Commissioner says as she looks back at him. "We've busted lots of Joker gang hangouts and found some serious hardcore stuff. It's like they're preparing for a major war or something."  
  
She sighs again and walks over to his chair, sitting down on the desktop she gazes at him and strokes his cheek with a fondness that might be considered more then just as a friend.  
  
"But enough about my troubles...you never did say if you were married or not."  
  
Terry becoming uncomfortable by her touch rises out of his chair like a bumbling fool and starts to blush a bit.  
  
"Ah...well...I'm not married. But I think I need too focus on one thing at a time here...besides...I ran into Dana at Bruce's funeral."  
  
Max's face soon gave a shocked look as she heard him say that. She knew the history between those two and of the break up that cause Terry to leave Gotham. She stood up in a hostile pose and folded her arms.  
  
"What did that lil' dreg want? Stupid bitch, she didn't deserve a guy like you and now she's popping in on a funeral to confront you? Nice."  
  
"Easy up Max. She didn't stay long...in fact she and I argued about the same old things again."  
  
Maxine calmed down and touched his arm with concern.  
  
"You have to face facts Terry...she's over you. Look, I've got a ton of stuff to do right now...why don't we meet up later and talk about it over dinner."  
  
Terry's eyebrow rose at her informal suggestion, but she then pulled away with embarrassment and tried to spin it another way.  
  
"Ah...a friend dinner. You know...to catch up on old times and laugh about how stupid we all were back then."  
  
Terry relaxed as he heard her say that, a relief to him, as he didn't know what she was trying to imply in the first place. The fact that she was coming on strong didn't seem to register in his male brain, it was obvious that Max was very much into this handsome friend of hers. A long hidden feeling she tried to express to him many times, but the man still didn't have a clue as to what she wanted. With her nervous smile, she seemed to ease his fears and he smirked back with a friendly attitude.  
  
"Of course. What would I do without you Max; you're still my bud after all this time. Same place as usual?"  
  
Max nodded and gave him a wink, "You bet...and this time, you're buying." 


	3. Double Trouble

Chapter Three – Double Trouble

In a shabby area of Gotham City, deep below the building skylines, the lone Joker that managed to escape Max's forces runs towards a very old building that has a large word 'Condemned' painted on the front side of it's crumbling stone wall. This is part of Old Gotham City, a place that was built over after the major Earthquake that sent it into ruin, the homeless and unwanted stay in this part of town, as it is their only means of shelter left. The clown-faced thug runs up and enters the building; he then approaches an old elevator and presses the button for service. The rusty metal doors open with a grinded squelch and he steps in quickly as they soon shut behind him afterwards. The inside building looks more like an old hotel, one that many rich and well-traveled individual might have been too in the past. But now it looks dark and spooky, the once lavish main entrance is now like walking into a haunted house. As the elevator rises up, the clown man becomes nervous and starts to perspire slightly as each passing floor brings him closer to the last stop. It soon sharply stops and shows him on the indicator above that he has reached the penthouse. The doors open again in their rusted squeaks and he steps out into the very large room. The whole place is almost like the lower level he came from, what was once a very beautiful place is now a decaying, filthy scene. Walking through the room and down carpeted steps that led to the wooden floor below, he slowly walked to the end of the room where a massive antique desk sat and looked just as decayed as the rest of the place. A deep brown leather chair was placed behind it, turned with it's back facing the man. As the Joker gang member stopped in front of the desk, a male voice boomed out from behind the chair.

"What are you doing here?" The male voice asked in a serious tone. "I thought I told you to go out and light up the town!"

"S-s-sorry Sir." The gang member gulped. "We'z was just doin' what you said...and...and then the cops came! We did torch the old Wayne rehab center like you said."

"That's not the point." A woman's voice now said from the shadows. "You didn't finish your job!"

As she stepped out, the man gasped at her presence. She was a young looking woman with long flowing green hair and had a face painted like a Raggedy Ann doll. Her clothes looked like a cross between Harley Quinn's old costume with a very short purple jacket that looked lightly fashionable on her. Just as she stood there smiling at him in a rather quirky manner, another female voice came out from the other shadow filled corner on the opposite side.

"Jokers are always suppose to finish what they start and you didn't finish..."

The woman that came out this shadow almost looked the same as the other, both had nearly the same clothes and painted faces, the only difference between them was that the one spoke first had black tights with red spades on them, and the other one had red tights with black spades on them. The two women sat on either side of the desk and looked as if they were posing for a picture, the big grinning smiles seemed evil and yet stunning to the man.

"I was going to finish...but...but..." The clown faced man stuttered.

The two women looked at each other and frowned sarcastically.

"Not a very good Joker is he Dee Dee?"

"No Dee Dee, I don't know how he ever managed to get in our gang."

Suddenly the brown leather chair turned around and the man sitting in it became barely visible, the shadows seemed to keep most of his appearance in the dark as the mysterious man stared at this thug. In the pitch back shadow, the only thing that could be seen was a great big yellow smile, a toothy grin that didn't seem humanly possible to make. The eyes were white and like slits, almost like Batman's staring out and showing no pupils what so ever. His purple-gloved hands folded together as he began to talk again.

"Why didn't you finish the job?" The smiling face said sternly.

"The Commissioner...she was there. The cops where all over the place and the guys I was with got tagged before we could regroup in the ally. I didn't have the weapons, one of the other guys had the bag of it...what could I have done?" The man nervously explains.

Dee Dee on the right of him laughed and shook her head.

"That's the lamest excuse I've ever heard. Mr. Smiley needs people that can finish with a bang...you could have wired yourself to explode and taken out that bitch!"

"What?!" The thug gasps in horror. "But...that would mean killing myself! I don't want to end up dead."

The man called Mr. Smiley stands up out of his chair; the light now shows that he is in fact wearing a white mask that looks like an overly grinning clown's face. The painted green eye brows on the mask looked evil as they made his eyes look insane, his hair was a dark black with hues of green in the highlighted parts the light could show. He was dressed very similar like the old Joker, a long purple coat with tails, purple gloves, a white long-sleeved shirt with a small black string tie and even an overly large yellow flower on his lapel.

"This is what it means to be in our gang Giggles, we need to be the most violent, crazy and toughest crime ring this city has ever witnessed! We need to live up to the name, Joker, to honor the greatest madman that ever lived!!"

The thug looked at all of them as the two girls clapped with pride and Mr. Smiley bowing as if he was enjoying the applause.

"You people are insane! I just wanted to mess around you know, do some pranks, steal some money, maybe even tease the cops a bit? But I don't want to actually kill people!" He said to them as he backed away with disgust.

The overly smiling villain stood there and gazed at him with a calm attitude, his eyes lowered as he watched the man back away from them.

"You know...Dee Dee was right. How the dreg did you get into this gang?"

His gloved hand soon pointed a gun at the scared thug; an overly large looking hand weapon that looked like it belonged in a cartoon. The thug pleaded him not to shoot and quickly turned to run for his life. Smiley pulled the trigger and a large spring shot across the room, as the man tripped and fell on the small carpeted stairs, his face turned around in time to see the end of the spring reaching his face. At the end of this novelty joke, was a small silver bullet, as it just finally reached the mans face, the bullet opened up and a small flag popped out of it that read, 'Boom'. The bullet and flag dropped from the coils end and landed on the man's stomach harmlessly.

"Whew!" He sighed with relief and then laughed hysterically as he thought he was going to die. "That's a funny joke guys...boy...you sure got me with that one."

As the masked man looked on, both Dee Dee's dived behind his table as if they knew something was about to happen.

"That's not the punch line friend." Mr. Smiley calmly stated.

Suddenly a small click sound came from the open bullet and as the man looked down on it in surprise, the bullet exploded and sent his body part everywhere across the room. Smiley didn't even move from where he was standing and watch it all very unemotionally. With the area still smoldering with his remains, the evil gang leader ended pointed his finger at where the man once was and shot his fingers like a gun.

"Bang, Bang...you're dead. Now that's comedy."

The twin girls rose up slowly and looked at one another.

"Remind me why we we're in the gang again Dee Dee?"

"Because of the many perks and surprises Dee Dee."

The one twin that asked the question rubbed her head and giggled.

"Nana Harley would have been so proud of us Dee Dee."

The other one giggled this time and rolled her eyes.

"As if Dee Dee. If she hadn't died we probably would have ended up in a reform school."

"I like this life better Dee Dee." The red spandex clothed woman replies.

"So do I Dee Dee...much more sane."

They both continue to giggle away as Mr. Smiley sits back into his chair and presses and intercom button on his desk.

"Bigpants...Squeakers...clean up on isle seven. On the double."

"Coming boss." One of them replies back on the intercom.

The twins sit back on the desk and look at their serious sounding employer.

"Hey Mr. S, how come you don't ever laugh? Usually a guy like you would get a riot out of doing stuff like this." Dee Dee on the left of him asks.

Folding his hands together again the blank and dead eyes of the man look at her, "Does that concern you Dee Dee?"

Now Dee Dee on the right of him answers for her, "No, but it's just strange is all we're saying. The real Joker would have been laughing his head off or something."

The man looks over to the other one speaking and leans back in his chair as he answers her.

"Well I'm not him...I'm Mr. Smiley, the man who is going to grin at Gotham when we take over completely. In our founders name, we shall become the chaos supreme."

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McGinnis strolled the streets casually in the new upper level walkways of Gotham city, looking around he could see how much things had changed since he last been there, buildings now had walkways wrapped around them with interconnecting junctions all of which looked very secure and well built. It seems that the city has left behind it's past and buried it under the new rising levels of modern times. "Flying Cars" as the older generation use to say, has now become a reality and probably the new pollution of the future. Skyways was just a silly slang word they use to spout in movies predicting the future, but now looking up above him, he could see that this was a growing industry that no longer was science fiction. Crime was now literally the underworld of Gotham City, an entire playground for thugs, thieves, gangs and homeless people to take over and do with as they pleased. Terry shook his head thinking about that, if Bruce had his way, those lower regions would still be part of the new Gotham of today. One thing Terry had to admire about the late great Bruce Wayne was that he always managed to inspire and change events in the crime-ridden city for the better. Could he say that about himself? What will be his lasting legacy for anyone to remember? A no-good kid that took over a great company and sent it to ruins? He was almost dreading meeting the shareholders in the morning, for they would surely eye him with great distrust and lose faith in Wayne Enterprises.

As he turned the corner, a woman's muffled cry for help came out from one of the buildings shadow filled alleys. For such a clean and well-lit area, he couldn't believe there'd be any criminal activity up in this part. He started to investigate the sound of the woman's voice, a detective instinct he seemed almost compelled to follow, and peered around the dark stonewall from where the sound had traveled. Sure enough, there was a poor helpless young woman being harassed by a group of Jokers. The clown copycat trio were taunting her and holding her personal data portfolio. These devices were now considered like wallets or purses, personal computers of the new era that contained everything about the person and even their credit account pin numbers. The woman begged them to give it back but the laughing group of thugs mocked her and threatened to give her a brand of "Joker" punishment. Joker punishment, it could range from anything from simply telling a bad joke, beating the person with an inch of their lives or raping them and painting the face after with a big stupid smile. This was the sort of garbage Terry had witnessed all his life, even Dana was given such a threat during one night he cancelled a date with her, if he hadn't been there patrolling the same street that night as Batman, she wouldn't have been so lucky as to escape that deadly encounter. Terry swore that he never let happen to her at all, even after they broke up. But his mind often wandered back to his uncaring nature before he met Wayne, of just walking by and not getting involved with such dangerous people, but flashes of his father laying dead and Bruce dressed as Batman awoke his mind out of that pattern of thought. Listening to this foolish behavior was far enough for Terry as if he was wearing the old Bat costume itself; he stepped out and did what was right.

"Alright clowns...why don't you leave the lady alone and give back her stuff. It's obvious she doesn't find you funny at all. In fact...I think you dregs are pathetic."

The three thugs looked behind and saw Terry standing there still in his funeral attire, the tie was gone from his neck and his black jacket was slightly open. He stood there straight as a pin and kept a deadly stare at each one of them. The first clown was skinny with an oversized yellow dress coat with vertical green and red striped pants. His face was long and painted white with black circles around his eyes, he was the leader of the group and carrying a large bat in his hand.

"Stay out of this pal!" He says tapping the bat in his hands. "We're the Jokers, nobody messes with us...so why don't you back away and play hero somewhere else."

Terry began to walk forward un-phased, his dead look into their eyes seemed to give them a sense that this guy means business. The burly looking thug beside the leader cracked his knuckles with anticipation and smirked at this fool coming closer. This second afro-American clown was a sizable foe, a painted sad mime face was his trademark, sporting a tightly fitting short black and white prison shirt that nearly didn't cover his huge frame, and wearing a black spandex jumpsuit which was barely covering his huge leg muscles. Some would have found the man's big floppy red shoes amusing a long time ago, but in the future city of Gotham, this was far from hilarious.

"I'm going to break a smile on you so hard...your going to have a plastic surgeon rebuild your features!" The large gruff looking man says to him.

Terry never gives into fear; his face is still as solid as stone as he continues to walk in. The Joker gangs were a push over when he was Batman, a poor excuse to the memory of the most infamous nut job, but he couldn't help but notice they looked somewhat stronger nowadays.

"Did you think of that one yourself big guy?" Terry mocks back. "Or have you been saving that stupid line for sometime now?"

The last Joker gang member was average in height and looked Asian in origin. His whole appearance looked as if he was trying to be a kabuki theater actor with a bit of western clown influence. His pale face and rosy cheeks were almost feminine in design, the third rate red, yellow and green samurai outfit looked as if it was made by cheap labor. Perhaps it was a symbol of Asian workhouses that churned out quick, cheap no-name brands of clothing. As if he was sending a message that his people were wronged in the previous century. But judging by the smug laughter of this man, it was very apparent that he was doing none of that. Just some stupid Asian American kid, looking to belong with all the wrong sorts.

"Get him Mime Time! Nobody tries to out joke the Jokers!" The samurai clown shouts at his big friend."

Terry stops and scoffs the nickname of the big clown, "Mime Time?? Geez, who gives you these awful cliché names anyhow? Seriously...I think you guys are losing originality here."

Mime Time didn't like Terry's snappy banter and rushed him with his hands ready to grab the guy and rip him apart. Terry stands still like a rock and a soon as the large thug reaches for him, he ducks down and sends a powerful jab to the clown's gut and incredibly follows through with it in a powerful lift. The man flies up into the air and crash lands back onto his back very hard, Terry now squats down to the ground and somersaults into the air backwards and lands on top of the man with both feet. The jab knocks wind out of Mime Time and lays out unconscious. The other two Jokers look at one another in amazement and suddenly rush over to take a swing at Terry still smiling on top of their friend. The samurai looking clown kicks and swings with his fists at the young man, but Terry's new training in martial arts has given him supreme speed and lightening fast counter attacks. A combo high kick with a quick spin whirl to his head sends the man to the dark looking wall like a crash test dummy. The last one left tries to take a few deadly blows to Terry from behind, but the skilled martial artist manages to out maneuver the swings and turns around with flying fists of his own. The quick and powerful jabs to his gut; chest and head were so fast they happened all within two seconds of one another. The long faced clown stood there with a bewildered look on his face as soon as Terry stopped, with one last look at the criminal, Terry took his two fingers of his right hand and pushed the man on the forehead down to the ground. With a simple groan of pain, the thug was out like a light. The three Jokers laid all around him as he stood there wiping his hands off, for all the worldly training and masters of martial arts Bruce sent him too, it really looked like it paid off.

"McGinnis three...bad guys...zip!" Terry mused to himself.

Looking over at the helpless victim still cowering down on the ground with her face covered, Terry walked over to her and helped her up. The young blonde Caucasian woman looked at Terry and at the men he managed to take out and hugged him with great thanks. She didn't speak a word to him, her grateful tears poured out of her as she repeatedly thanked him over and over. It was clear that the woman traumatized by the attack and he kept her gripped in his arms as he led her out to the safety. Together they returned to the streets of Gotham and began to feel that this sort of new pattern in the Jokers was very mysterious indeed. Laughs were all the Jokers ever wanted to get, stupid teens that think their being cool or very rebellious by committing petty theft, but now their brutal violence was a new turn for the worst in this group. The woman was already beaten by the time Terry had reached her, the bruises on her harms and face was terrifying evidence of that. Max was right, this was definitely not the same gang he had left behind years ago, these were gangsters being taught to be psychopaths. He needed to talk to Max again about this, after seeing and dealing with this group; he needed to find out more.

"Are you hurt bad miss?" He asked her as the stepped out into the bright lights of Gotham again.

"I...I think I'm ok." She says trembling with shock. "Thank god you came when you did...I fought back as much as I could but...but..."

She begins to sob again into his chest and Terry stokes her back in comfort. He takes out a small videophone, presses one of the buttons on it and holds it up to eye level. A holographic image appears of an Afro-American police officer's head, green in hue with a grainy texture to it.

"Gotham City Police, how may I help you?" The man says in a bored tone.

"I need a squad car to the lower buisness level on 83rd, there's been an attack here and woman who needs treatment." Terry says to the cop.

"A unit is on it's way...please stay where you are for questioning." The black man yawns as he gives him the instructions and hangs up.

Terry is appauled by the man's lack of sympathy, but then again this must be a daily occurance in Gotham, still he could have at least shown some sort of compassion. In the distance he could hear the sirens of the unit heading his way and looked up at the dark sky above him that was barely visible from the glow of the city lights.

"Dear god...what have I done to this place?" Terry thought to himself. "Did I make it worst from leaving? Or for even putting on that damn costume in the first place?"


	4. Rise To Powers

Chapter Four – Rise To Powers

In the window of a retro-style American diner, Max slurps on her coffee as she waits for Terry to show up. The quirky looking restaurant is not at all too big and then again not too small. The buildings surround the small diner as if it was an obstacle in their way and standing all alone like an homage to the quaint history of the late 20th Century. Tables where tacky and brimmed with streamline silver metal, the tops had a marbled green look to them as they shone from a polished glaze. The cushioned seats were just as retro looking as the rest of the place, fake leather padded booths toned in a dark red and all facing back to back just like they did so long ago. Max had not let her hair down; she still had it in the tight ponytail with a black round clip to hold it in place. Still wearing the same outfit when she last saw McGinnis, it was a sign that she had not been anywhere but the station since they last chatted. But as she twirled around the spoon beside her coffee cup as he placed it down, she looked up and suddenly saw Terry finally entering the diner at long last.

"McG! Bout time you came...remember you're the one doing the buying right?" Max laughs.

Terry had a gaunt look in his face and sat in the red leathery booth with her. The two sat across from each other, both still wearing the clothes they've managed to stay in most of the night. Terry sighs and looks up at her.

"Sorry Max, I had some trouble on the way here."

"Yeah I know." The female friend said back as she rest up against the booth padded backing. "Got a call from the squad about your little run in with some Jokers. I figured I didn't need to be there to get the scoop. I told the men I was taking a short time off to have dinner with a friend, so glad you at least made it back to here afterwards."

"I'm beginning to see what you mean about the situation out there." Terry says as he folds his arms and leans down on the table. "Gotham has changed...or maybe I have...or both...damn I don't know anymore."

"Easy Terr..." She says with care to the stressed out friend. "Forget about it right now...we can talk about it at another time, lets just enjoy our meal together."

Terry looks around and snickers to himself, "Man...I can't believe Dini's Diner is still here. I thought they would have torn this old place down years ago."

"They were going too...but some folks still like eating at this old hangout. I think its very shway, I mean just think of all the food you and I used to download when we crammed for studies!" Max giggles as she remembers fondly.

"Like the time we ate the chili supreme mega dogs and quickly tried to run for classes after narling them down!" McGinnis starts to laugh riotously.

Max joins him in the laughter and the two enjoy the humorous memory of trying to waddle to school with overly stuffed bellies.

"Oh...oh god Terry. That was the best! I dropped to the ground as if I was going to die and told you to keep going without me."

Terry still laughing adds to her story, "That's when I tried to drag you along with me and ended up hurling in a recycling bin half a block later!"

Max pounds on the table laughing and leans back as she starts to control herself. Terry also starts to bring it down and relaxes in his seat.

"Oh boy...that was funny." The commissioner woman says wiping the tears of laughter from her face. "We never did get to class on time. You made me get a 'F' on that assignment."

Terry points at her, "If I recall we both failed that one, so don't blame me...besides, who was the one that ordered those killers anyway?"

The waitress suddenly came up to their table and placed down the food in front of them both. The woman was dressed just like one would image they would in this era, a pink polyester uniform with matching white sneakers to boot. Terry stood in shock as she laid down the orders that apparently Max had already made and gazed at it in horror. There was the very chili dog nightmare the two were reminiscing about, sitting in a basket with french fries and swimming it the very chili muck poured over it all.

"Oh you brat!!" Terry exclaimed to her.

"Heh! What's a matter Terr...still don't have the stomach for it?" She giggles at him.

A devilish grin on his face appears and picks up one of the forks the waitress leaves for them.

"That's it! I challenge you to another rematch...and this time...we've got no where to run too."

Max leans in and gives a sexy smile that doesn't even get noticed by Terry.

"That's right, we've got all the time in the world now."

She knew Terry wanted to talk about what had happened in the ally and even about the death of Mr. Wayne. But she could see the wear and tear of the day was taking its toll on the handsome friend, so she decided they both needed a time of laughter to lighten their spirits. If only if it was for a short time of the night. The two dug into their sloppy looking meals, steaming with hot chili and overly greased fries. Terry was having fun reliving a fond moment they once shared; he was even timing himself to see if he could out last her once again. Max, though stunningly beautiful as she was, still had that tomboy nature to her and also shoveled in the food because there was no way she was going to lose her old chili dog eating record to the likes of him. The few others in the restaurant looked on in disgust and shock. A gross display of two grown adults acting like children in the middle of the night.

On the widescreen TV well behind them both on a back wall, a news channel blares away as the female blue holographic anchors give the news at the top of the hour.

"Good evening Gotham! This is GNN with an update on your news of the day. Bruce Wayne was fondly remembered today as he was finally laid to rest in Gotham Cemetery. A spokesman for Wayne Enterprises was quoted as saying, 'a great man has been lost to the city of Gotham, and one that returned to take back a family business he so loved.'"

The other male blue holographic anchor slides into the fame as the woman is edged off the screen.

"Powers Incorporated also made a statement about the late Bruce Wayne. Jason Smythe the top senior official of the Powers Company, gave this live statement..."

The image flips in as the colorful hi-res video show a young dapper looking gentleman standing in front of the Powers Incorporated logo backdrop. A Caucasian man with jet-black hair and a chiseled body that fit his dark blue suit well.

"Bruce Wayne was a pillar of the community and a wonderful businessman in the industry, his loss is deeply felt by all those that knew him. He fought to get the full ownership of his company back and managed to separate the once unified Powers-Wayne giant back into the two rivals he left behind today. I don't blame him at all for this, seeing how the original Powers father and son managed to turn to a life of crime and was sent to prison for life. I've been the CEO of this company for nearly eight years now...and I've managed to bring this place back to it's full potential. Wayne respected me for that and accepted that Powers was a company he could fully trust again. I look forward to meeting the shareholders and seeing if a new merger can take place once again."

The image flips back to the blue holographic male anchor and shows an inset photo of Terry McGinnis.

"Of course the take over may be in question as the only sole air to the Wayne Empire has returned to challenge this new Powers proposal. Terry McGinnis, once the personal assistant to Wayne and now legal guardian of the entire Wayne estate, will address the shareholders as well with possible plans to take over Wayne Industries himself. Does this young, inexperienced kid have the same business savvy as his predecessor? Or will the shareholders vote to replace him and merge with Powers Incorporated again?"

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Watching the same program in the prestigious office of Powers Incorporated, Jason Smythe sits in his large black leather chair and watches the news. The room is very large, high ceilings, a huge window that stretches the length of the wall and even full of expensive office furnishings of every kind. Sitting behind his hand carved antique desk, the young handsome executive stares at the picture of Terry McGinnis with almost intense vision. The light blue-grey suit he wears is almost trendy for the times, a black shirt and white tie seem to give his over all look a very hip style. Reaching up with his right arm, he turns off the TV with a small hand held remote, and then with a small exhale of breath he leans back in his chair.

"I didn't think he'd actually come back Mr. Winters." Smythe says aloud.

Walking up to the desk is a Caucasian male in a rather deep blue suit and red tie. His hair was dark grey, but his youthful face gave the impression he was still well in prime years. Mr. Winters handed his employer a cup of tea and laid down a disk with Terry's name on it.

"Yes. Puzzling isn't it sir." Winters speaks in a very dry and almost non-expressive tone. "I've brought you all the information we have on Mr. McGinnis and even the detailed files of his travels. I must say, the young gentleman has been traveling a lot, most of the schools he studied at were almost parallel to that of Wayne himself."

Swiveling his chair around to look at the grey haired man, Jason took a sip of his tea and tapped on the disk lost in thought.

"A busy little bee then...strange that Bruce would coddle this inexperienced child to handle his affairs or his company for that matter. I always thought Wayne looked to me like the son he never had, I was around him more then McGinnis was in the past eight years. People swore that Bruce and I were almost looked like father and son, naturally our looks are similar, but still...I always respected Wayne even though I had to climb to the top of Powers Incorporated."

Winters continues to stand there and listens like a statue; his face never shows any sort of compassion or even a friendly smirk.

"He did seem to care for all you've done, sir. But it took him more time to trust another Powers employee that rose to the top after the criminal behavior of the former two heads of this company."

"You're right about that Mr. Winters." Smythe said taking another sip of his tea. "But changing polices and cleaning up after what those two idiots left behind was job and a half for me. Still, stocks are up now...shareholders are pleased with me and becoming Gotham's new wealthy playboy has helped this company's image immensely. Mmm...good tea Mr. Winters."

The man bows to his employer's praise and starts to walk towards the large doors leading out of the office.

"If there is nothing further sir? I have other matters to look into."

"Oh Winters?" Jason Smythe says inquisitively. "I was just wondering...where have you been for the past few hours? I've been paging you for this report on Terry for some time..."

Winters looks back with his head and stares at Jason as he replies.

"Sorry sir, I was...indisposed. I'll try to be more alert to your pagings from now on."

The Powers executive leans back in his chair and gives a quaint smile at him "See that you do from now on. You're the best assistant I ever had Mr. Winters, I'd hate for you to drop the ball now."

"Yes indeed, sir." Winters says back as he now returns to leaving the room. "It would be the worst crime imaginable."

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Hours later at Dini's small diner, both Terry and Max are still sitting in the same booth and chatting away over cups of coffee. The small restaurant is completely empty of customers, the lights are dimmed and the employees are huddled over to the far side of the diner's end as they take time to relax and get ready to leave. Still laughing about the good old days, Terry and Max soon pause from their reminiscing as they suddenly become noticeable of the late time.

"This has been fun Max." Terry said with a smirk. "It's been so long since I've had a good laugh and a talk of something other then business."

Maxine slurps her coffee and nods, "Me too. Being commissioner isn't all that its cracked up to be, all I ever get are calls about the Jokers doing this or that. I feel like I'm stressed out to the limit. It was nice to have a break in my day like that...you always know how to cheer me up McG."

"Well, if there's one thing I'm known for...it's my gift for gab. Bruce never liked the fact that I'd act that way, even when had the costume on. He always told me I should be more stoic and very non-verbal. But that's not me...and that's probably why I'm not going to be that 'thing' anymore." McGinnis says cautiously to her, trying not to mention too loudly that he was Batman.

"What?!" She gasps with eyebrows raised. "Terr...come on. You have to be him again...this city needs you back! I need you back...there's a war going on out there and I need the one man in Gotham that can give me the necessary backup."

"Wait a minute..." Terry looks at her with questionable eyes. "I thought you said whatever decision I made was ok with you? Now you're acting as if I'm letting you down all of a sudden."

Max lets out a small sigh and reaches across the well-polished table to gently grasp his hand sitting there. As she takes hold of it, she gazes at him with a soft nature.

"Terr...you've never let me down. And I know you want to have your own life again, maybe even raise a family, find a piece of mind you've never known before. Truth is...I don't think you can, hon. If you want to run away and forever be the that little boy who likes doing whatever he wants...then the only person you'll have let down is Bruce Wayne."

Terry's eyes give a sudden shock to her answer and pulls his hand away from hers.

"How...how can you say that to me Max? Wayne was one who understood what I wanted, he even guided me out of the life that he was too trapped to escape from himself. He didn't want me to be some lonely old man sitting in an empty house with nothing but a failing heart and remembering the costumed life. He knew what I wanted, because it's what he wanted most of all."

Maxine leaned back into her seat and folded her arms in a frustrated manner, "That was his dream Terry...who says you have to live that exact way as well? You're just afraid to pick up the mantle and carry on the legacy is all. I know the real reason you don't want to become him again...its because of her...Dana."

"That's not true!" He harps back at her.

"Yes it is Terry and you know it." She hollers back. "For some reason you thought you could balance your life with her and your adventurous night alter ego. Well forgive me if I don't sit here and pity you for what happened...but the fact is, Dana was the only reason you wanted to keep going. Once she broke up with you...the dream you thought you could hold on to was gone."

Terry stands up quickly and snarls at her.

"That was never the reason!! I did it because I wanted to avenge my father!"

He quickly stormed out the diner while the employees looked at him with concern. The loud yelling had made them look at the two with curiosity but when Max got up and marched out after Terry, the group shrugged their shoulders and one of waitresses gave a smug explanation.

"Must be the chili dogs they ate."

As Maxine rushed out the doors, she soon found Terry standing just outside with his hands on his face. The young man was utterly shattered by her comments and was desperately trying not to cry. She kept her distance from the man she secretly loved and tried to apologize.

"I'm...I'm sorry Terr. You know me...I speak my mind, I didn't mean to hurt you."

Taking his hands away and turning to look at her with a calmer look, he breathes out to sooth his nerves and brings his emotions under control.

"I know you've never liked Dana. For some reason you've always thought of her as the crux for all my problems. But she was never the reason for me to keep being Batman, I did it to avenge dad...but after it was done...I ....I just..."

She now steps closer to him with her arms folded over again and gently rubbing the sleeves of her black leather coat.

"You wanted more." She said finishing his sentence.

Terry nods with agreement, "Yes. More...it was like a drug. The feel of helping, saving people and soaring through night skies...of doing good and being the most feared man in all of Gotham. It becomes like a second skin that's comfortable and addictive. When Dana ended our future together, it suddenly hit me that I've been missing out on the very thing my dad would have wanted me to experience. The mask had now become my hiding place, a darkness that I could lose myself in and never go into reality ever again. It frightened me Max..."

She finally comes over and hugs the somber friend as he too hugs her back with the same care.

"Terry..." She sighed.

"I don't want to lose myself again." He continues to speak. "I'm nothing like Bruce...I don't want to be him or live as his shadow as Batman."

Maxine raises her head to look into her friend's eyes. In her gut, the moment was never more perfect to tell him how she truly feels. This poor man was pouring his soul out to her and she was willing to accept him in whatever role he wanted to be in. She backed away slowly and held his cheek with her right hand.

"Terry...this may shock you...but I want to let you know..."

McGinnis stared back at her and was now giving a curious face as to what she may say.

"We've known each other for a long time...and ....I...I..." She quivers trying to spit out her exact words. "Terry, I lov..."

Just as she tries to admit her deep feeling, the holographic phone begins to page her loudly. The beeping noise is a familiar ring and one that she instantly picks up without hesitation. As soon as she takes the device out of her pocket, the green holo-image of a male Caucasian police officer appears.

"Commissioner! We've just had another bombing on the east end of town! We need you over there right away!"

"Damn Jokers again..." She growls. "Ok hang on, I'll be there in a sec."

The image disappears and she shoves the phone back into her jacket. Looking at Terry who still wonders what she was about to say to him, she quickly gives him a peck on the cheek and pats him on the shoulder.

"Sorry boy wonder...duty calls. I hope you do well at your meeting tomorrow...but don't be a stranger and stop by again."

Terry smiles at her and watches her sprint for her hover car, which is not too far down from where the diner is.

"Thanks Max!" He yells to her and waves. "For everything!"

The woman gives him a quick sexy smile and gets into the vehicle. With a rev of the car's engine, she speeds out like a racecar driver and lifts into the Gotham skyline full of traffic. The sound of her siren manages to part the sea of floating vehicles as they make way for her. Terry rubs his cheek from where she kissed him and thinks to himself.

"Hm...I wonder what she was going to say? She's acting so goofy around me...I wonder if...nah, can't be. Not Max, she's just a good friend. But still...I wonder what she was about to say to me...."

Terry walks down the dark and lonely street of Gotham and makes his way back to the hotel to prepare himself for the morning meeting of the Wayne and Powers stockholders. High above in the Gotham City nightly profile, an orange glow of fire and billowing black smoke can be seen in the far distance. Another deadly strike from the Jokers gang, with the continuing sounds of emergency vehicle sirens blaring over the busy metropolis.


	5. Shattered Meetings

Chapter Five – Shattered Meetings

In a very large room filled with seated individuals, Terry and Jason Smythe sit beside one another on a large stage with other businessmen. The obvious morning meeting of the shareholders has come, the loud chatter among those invested with Wayne and Powers have waited this day for many years. The clear plastic podium in front of Terry has a scrolling logo of both companies in its liquid crystal screen built in. All of the top company officials are on stage with Terry and Jason, all of whom are riding on whatever the two have to say in this important event. The soft chime rings out in the large gray and blue room, the talking dies down and the people take to their seats quickly. Jason Smythe stands up and approaches the podium with a smile.

"Good morning everyone. My name is Jason Smythe and I'm the president and CEO of Powers Incorporated. Friends...we've brought you here today to discuss a bold new change...a change that could see the merging of both Wayne Industries and our parent company once again."

Terry shifts in his seat as he looks at the many Wayne supporters glancing his way.

"But this of course resides all on you..." Jason continues to speak. "Bruce Wayne, a very honest and loyal friend to many of you, has passed on with no one to take charge of his company that he fought so hard to take back from Powers grip. I don't blame him of course, my predecessors were very shifty and dishonest businessmen that sent his good name down into the mud. They mismanaged his company and took away what was once decent and trusting about the name Wayne. I took the burden of being hand picked by Wayne himself to run Powers as a separate entity, I restored our investments and worked hard to bring Powers up from the slime it was built on. Now the two major and...shall I say...competitive..."

The people all snicker at that bit of humor he tires to interject, Wayne Industries and Powers Incorporated always tried to out do one another when it came to stocks and product lines, it was a healthy venture for both companies that saw their profits triple during their years apart. With the businessmen having a good snicker about that fact, Smythe once again continued his speech.

"...Companies of Gotham City have finally come full circle and now have the chance to renew a united industry under one banner again. I for one will accept whatever way you choose...but the one person who can really say what will happen to this company merger is sitting right here. Ladies and Gentlemen...the appointed air of Wayne Industries and loyal friend to Bruce himself, I give you...Terry McGinnis."

Smythe begins clapping at Terry as he rises out of his seat and motions him to come to the awaiting podium for his talk as well. The people all stand up and clap in unison, a show of support and a sign of respect for the young man who now owns Wayne's company.

"Thank...thank you." He stutters in a shy manner. The sound of his voice echoing over the room from the built in microphone signals everyone to slowly end the applause and sit back down. Terry clears his throat and nervously tweaks his collar.

"Thank you all for coming. Thank you Mr. Smythe for agreeing to arrange this meeting of our shareholders. As you know, Bruce Wayne was one who literally made this company what it is today, he gave Gotham as much as he could and even beyond what was possible. He was there to rebuild the city after the major earthquake, he was there to serve the community in any cause, and he was the one man who knew when to draw the line when push came to shove."

Looking out into the sea of faces, Terry suddenly saw the press core at the back of the room; one face stood out more then the others as he stared right at them. Clark Kent, the news director of Daily Planet, was looking right back at him in a curious manner. They've known about each other for years now, they even know one another's secret identities having digged into each other's pasts. Wayne had told Terry about Superman after they tried to recruit him into the Justice League, but much like Bruce did back then, Terry refused to join the group. Clark tired many times since then to bring him in to the superhero society, but Terry was much rather happy being as solo as Wayne ever was. Terry kept his eyes locked onto this man of steel as he continued his talk with the shareholders.

"But like Jason Smythe said...change is coming, whether we like it or not. I know this will be hard for many of you, some will even question my motives for this bold leap backwards, but I'd rather entrust the welfare of this company into the hands of an experienced business man then to someone that is just trying live in another person's shadow."

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Hours after the meeting, Terry stands in the outside lobby with Jason Smythe as they share some refreshments with the other businessmen. The room is full of chatting people as they all discuss about the two speeches and of the future of their companies. The wide lobby has a grand red-carpeted staircase that leads up to the main meeting hall they've all just come out of. The same bland colors adorn this lobby as the hall inside, showing that this building is mainly used for any sort of occasion, but mostly for company meetings.

"That was a bold speech you gave Terry." Smythe said to him as he drinks from his white coffee cup.

"Thanks." Terry sighs. "Although I don't think it was enough to make them to forgive me for selling out."

"Nonsense. Don't beat yourself up about it McGinnis...Wayne Industries would have eventually lost out sometime. Bruce's company may have survived this long, but even his world must come crashing down at some point. All empires do eventually...history is nothing but full of turning points. Heck...even Powers industries would have."

Terry nods in a somber manner, Smythe's words did ring some truth into them, without Bruce Wayne to guide his company the place would slowly crumble to the ground.

"I guess your right Jason. I kinda wish he would have merged with you a year ago, and then I wouldn't have to be here to settle all of this for him. Bruce did seem to think you were a shway guy..."

Smythe took the compliment with a smile and shook Terry's hand, "Hey now, come on Terry...you knew him a lot better then I ever would. But thanks just the same."

Suddenly Jason's eyes darted up and gave a look of surprise, he quickly looked very happy as he held out his hand forward.

"Oh hey, there's my new fiancé Terry...I want you to meet her. Over here darling!"

As the crowd parted and Terry looked up, there was the one woman he had hoped he'd never see so soon again.

"Terry...I'd like you to meet my future bride, Dana Tan" Smythe states with joy.

McGinnis saw her walk on up in a beautiful low back cut dress. It was almost like shimmering silver as she moved, the sparkling diamond jewels adorned her neck and ears and was of the most fashionable design ever seen. Terry's mouth gaped open as he watched her, it was almost happening in slow motion to him as he saw her sway her hips and the front of her long hair draping down as she soon saw Terry. Jason was looking at the both of them rather curiously; Dana had stopped as if in shock and the two former lovers just sat there looking at one another.

"Uhm...have you two met before?" Jason inquires.

"Yes...no...uh..." Terry and Dana answer at the same time.

Terry smirks in embarrassment and rubs the back of his neck; "Well...we kinda know each other from our school years."

"That's right..." Dana nods in agreement. "Terry and I are old friends...very old friends."

"Oh. I see..." Smythe simply utters. "Well...maybe I should let you two catch up on old times. After all, Terry isn't going to stay in Gotham forever and I'm sure he'd like to hear about the plans for the wedding."

"Oh, don't be silly Jason." Dana laughs oddly. "Terry doesn't need to be bored with hearing all that. Besides I'm just interrupting your conversation anyway."

"Nonsense my dear." Smythe joyfully replies. "You two chat away...I've got to go and mingle with the suits in here. Wish me luck..."

With a wink of his eye and a motion of snoring as to be humorous, Jason wanders off and starts shaking hands with everyone he runs into along the way. Terry and Dana fiddle with their fingers and give each other quick glances of awkwardness.

"Well...hello again." Dana said laughingly.

"Listen Dana...I'm...I'm really sorry I acted like a dreg at the cemetery. Can you forgive me?"

She sighed and tapped the end of her grey shoes on the carpet while in thought.

"Ok...sure. I'm sorry for bring up bad memories at a bad time for you. But...you know Terr...one of these days, we have to talk about what happened."

"Yeah I know." Terry shrugs. "But you could have at least told me you were engaged to him. How long have you too known each other?"

"Five years now. He's a good man Terry, he knows when to drop everything and come be with me. He treats me with respect and can give me everything I want."

"So I've noticed." Terry says to her pointing at her jewels. "I thought you once told me that money didn't matter to you."

She scowls at him for suggesting such a thing, "It doesn't ok! Geez, you think this is about money? Please...believe it or not I was hoping you'd come back and maybe we could work this all out. But when I realized you weren't I ended up going to the clubs alone and soon ran into Jason one night. He was understanding of my problems and truly cared about me. So things got ultra-high rez between us and now we're set to be man and wife."

"Did you talk to Max about any of this?" Terry says with curiosity.

"Of course I did." She nods. "But she told me I was making a big mistake. Can't imagine why...she got all bitchy on me and we haven't spoken since then."

Terry's eyes droop as he soon thinks of Max's betrayal; she was right there in the diner with him last night and never breathed a word of this.

"Damn you Max..." He whispers in anger.

Just then, a tall gentleman stands behind Terry and taps him on the shoulder. The dark blue suit and red tie even makes Dana's eyes look up at him.

"McGinnis...care to make a statement to the press?"

As the young man turns around to face the man interrupting him, he gives a sigh of disappointment and gives a very irritated answer.

"Clark Kent. Don't you have a newspaper to run?"

Dana giggles a bit at Terry's remark. She at least glad to see that he still has the witty humor that made her fall for him in the first place. Clark didn't find it amusing; he just took hold of the young man's arm and forced him over to another spot to talk.

"Just a quick word Sir." Clark says loudly as he tries not to make a scene.

Terry looks back at Dana as he leaves with Kent and smiles. "You know the press...always pushing around for a story."

As Clark finally finds a spot to have a quiet conversation, he lets go of Terry and points at him.

"Listen son...you and I need to chat."

"Funny...that seems to be the running theme around here lately."

Clark calms down a bit and adjusts his glasses as he looks down, "Terry...I'm absolutely appalled your going to end Wayne's company like this. Bruce and I may have had our differences...but his charity and good name was always there to benefit this city in times of need."

"You? You are lecturing me about selling out?" McGinnis snickers. "Didn't you help Luthor at some point? Didn't you turn your back on the Justice League when the most needed you? In fact I seem to recall you taking over the Daily Planet and making it into your own little empire!"

"Enough Terry!" Kent shouts at him. "This isn't about me...this is about where your taking Gotham City into. If you merge this company with Powers again it will destroy all those that benefit most from it. They'll end all the sponsorship programs, the homeless shelters and the money going to needy families. If you dissolve Wayne Industries...you'll be putting in the final coffin nail in Gotham City."

Terry folds his arms and looks away from him, "Who's to say that will happen? Jason Smythe seems shway enough; he might just leave everything as it should be. He's just like Bruce...more then I ever was."

"You think so, huh?" The man of steel says as he adjusts his glasses. "How well do you know him Terry? Enough to gamble an entire city on? But...maybe your right...maybe you're not like Bruce at all. At least he would've kept a close eye on him...just in case."

Kent walks away from him and returns to the crowd as if nothing had happened. For such a strong and well-dressed individual, he seemed to blend in right away as if he vanished in a sea of expensive suits. Terry was surprised by Kent's concern, seemed to him that he never approved of Bruce or Batman's methods, still he had a point about the homeless shelters and various charities that the company was known for. Perhaps he could speak to Smythe and have him sign some sort of document to protect those necessary items. Terry straightened his ruffled jacket from Clark's manhandling of him, and walked back over to the refreshment table where Dana was waiting. As he came back over to talk with her again, Jason returned and gave his future bride a long kiss. McGinnis stopped dead in his tracks as he witnessed the embrace, the woman he had once loved was now in the arms of another man and he hated it.

"Oh hey there Terry!" Jason said as he finished his kiss to her and saw him standing in front of them. "Listen, I was just talking to the shareholders elected representative and they want to schedule a second meeting so they can take a few days to decide the vote. Looks like their still unsure of this merger. I can't blame them for being nervous..."

"No..." Terry states with an unemotional expression. "I can't say I blame them either. Guess that means I'm in Gotham City a bit longer."

Dana hides her eyes from Terry; she knows that seeing Jason holding her so tenderly is killing the young man inside. Smythe simply smiles and pats Terry on the shoulder.

"Great! Give my office a call sometime and maybe you, Dana and I can have a dinner some night? Oh wait...I've got a better idea. I'm having a party at the old Powers building to celebrate our engagement...just tell them to ask for me when you get the door."

"Well...I...I don't know..." Terry suddenly stumbles in his words.

"Aw come on McGinnis...Dana and I would love to see you there, wouldn't we dear?"

Dana smiles nervously and nods her head reluctantly, "Oh...of course sweetie. Whatever you'd like."

Terry and Dana lock eyes again, one could almost feel the tension between them as they could read each other's expressions of dread. Smythe shakes Terry's hand and snaps his fingers in the air. Mr. Winters appears at the man's beckoning call and stands beside his employer.

"Winters...give Terry here my Info-card. If you ever need to reach me just use my private number. Thanks Terry...see you there."

As Jason and Dana walk away, Terry gives a somber sigh as he watches his ex-girlfriend walk away from him yet again. Mr. Winters takes out a flat gold looking business card and hands it to Terry, an image of the Powers logo appears in a small hologram hovering over it, with a morphing picture of Jason Smythe and his vid-phone number.

"I hope you do attend Mr. McGinnis, I hear the party will be quite the blast indeed."

Terry eyes the blank faced man as he says that to him with an almost dry wit. The man's overly serious demeanor sends a chill down his spine as he looks at him with suspicion. Not even so much as a bow or a nod to him as he walks away, that felt kind of rude to him and noticed the man looking back at him with the corner of his eye. Terry stoked the gold holographic card in his hand and watched the image of the Powers logo disappear.

"Never mind about how well I know him..." He mutters to himself. "How well did Bruce know him?"


	6. The Wayne Syndrome

Chapter Six – The Wayne Syndrome

Inside the rundown hotel hideout of the Jokers gang, Mr. Smiley watched the news channel on his broken television set on the far wall beside him. The old set was of average size, yet flat and wall mountable. The video flickered and fizzled as he sat there gazing at the screen, his eyes peering out from behind the mask he always wears, gives a squint as the virtual news anchor talks away.

"Fires once again broke out in the lower regions of Gotham City, as the deadly Jokers proved to be a continuing threat to the police. Commissioner Maxine Gibson was on hand to see the arrest of several fleeing subject whom she her self tackled to the ground upon spotting them." The female anchorwoman cheerfully told.

The footage they showed was of Max chasing one of the clowns trying to break free and escaping from the police. He fast footwork and a quick flying kick to the man's back soon had him on the ground and unable to stand up. She knelt down on his back hard and hand cuffed him with the futuristic shackles they use.

"Sucks to be you buddy!" She said to him.

The image pauses and the virtual female anchor returns to finish her report.

"Looks like Commissioner Gibson is right on top of things as usual. Viewer statistics prove an overwhelming majority of support in Gibson's favor, making her the most popular police commissioner since the days of Barbara Gordon. To other news now...the meeting between Wayne and Powers has had some mixed emotions among the shareholders. Terry McGinnis announced his endorsement to handing over Bruce Wayne's company to Jason Smythe, a move that some investors call a bad decision. A new meeting has been scheduled for the end of the week."

Mr. Smiley reaches up his hand with the remote firmly clutched in it and turns the TV off. He gives a long sigh and leans back in his decaying chair.

"This town just isn't what it use to be anymore...ah well, thanks to me it never will be again. Hell hath no fury like the Jokers gang scorn."

Suddenly, one of Smiley's henchmen entered the room and approached the leader who was lost in his thoughts.

"You sent for me boss?" The averaged sized clown henchmen asked as he stood there in the middle of the broken down room hideout.

"Yes I did Big pants." Mr. Smiley said in his usual dry tone. "Gather the troops again for tonight...there's more work to be done."

"But...but boss, the guys are exhausted. I mean...we've been hitting joints left right and center for the past two weeks!"

Smiley rose out of his overly worn leather chair and placed his knuckles on the old desk in front of him.

"Indeed we have. But I want to keep this going until the city is ours; this commissioner Gibson is making things very hard for me to see the glory of the Joker Empire to rise. We need her out of the way..."

The two Dee Dee girls are sitting in a broken down old couch that has no legs to support it any longer. There it sits on the grimy looking floor as the two clown beauties apply more white powder to their faces.

"Why not just kill they broad Mr. S" Dee Dee says sitting on the left.

"A bullet to her brain and out she goes...and you can claim the throne!" Dee Dee on the right also comments.

Smiley comes around from his desk and paces the length of the room as he rubs his smiling mask gently lost in thought.

"Too easy Dee Dee...besides...that would make her a martyr to this town and I don't need another hero to jeopardize my plans. What we need is leverage...an upper hand...something to make the city suits squirm to my bidding alone."

Both Dee Dee's look at one another and smile as they suddenly share a twin thought. They snap their powder cases and jump to their feet.

"THE KIDNAP HOAX!!"

Smiley stops in his pacing and turns his head to them both as he nods with approval.

"Very good Dee Dee...very good indeed. Now that's a funny joke to keep them laughing until victim's death."

Dee Dee with the black and red costume scrunches herself inward as she joyfully thinks of it in her mind.

"Ooooh Mr. S...You totally rock!"

Her sister gives a loving hug to herself and giggles for giving him the idea, "Go Me! Go Me! And we know just the person to nab too..."

Smiley walks over to them both and hugs them together in his arms, his unwaviered and chilling, passionless voice gives an air of evil as he continues to talk to them.

"That's my girls. But we have to create a distraction or two to make this work...I'll join you at the secondary target later on...the first strike has to go ahead as planned. There's someone I'm just super keen on meeting."

"Who is that Mr. Smiley?" Big Pants asks him while still standing near the antique desk.

"A man that once knew an old rival of ours...and was a very good friend to Mr. Bruce Wayne."

The smile on the mask almost seemed to enlarge as Smiley squinted his eyes, one would expect to hear laughter or even an insane giggle as he foretells his evil plan, but this villain has no humorous laughter about him. The calm deep voice that borders on almost boredom in its tone gives no sign to the others that he is either serious or even happy about the whole thing.

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Sitting in the batcave many a few hours later, Terry McGinnis sits in the comfortable old chair that Bruce once use to occupy in front of the massive computer. Terry flipped through file after file stored in the memory banks, going though every criminal connection to every organized syndicate he could think of to see if there was any hidden clues about the man who is about to marry his old girlfriend.

"What the hell am I doing?" Terry sighs. "The man has no criminal background...no hidden past, no link to gangs or even a single parking ticket."

The image pauses on Jason Smythe and shows his statistics that Bruce Wayne did manage to keep on him. The report was spotless on him; one word graced the bottom of the screen as Terry looked on, 'Clear'. That was Bruce's label for those that posed no threat to him or just even were standard files of people he knew. Terry again sighed in disappointment and leaned back into the chair with half shut eyes.

"God I'm such a dreg." He uttered under his breath. "Here I am trying to find a reason to break them up and sitting alone in a cave just as he would."

"Not alone Terr." A familiar female voice echoed behind him.

Terry spun around to see Commissioner Max Gibson standing at the base of the batcave staircase; she still wore the same jacket but now had a pink T-shirt on and brown slacks that once again just clung on to her hips. Her being in the cave didn't shock Terry; in fact, she had access to it before during his years as Batman. The only thing Terry was surprised by was her being there at this time of night.

"Max? Thought you had a job to keep up with?"

She smirked as she shrugged her shoulders, "Well it's a quiet night right now...what can I say? Besides I wanted to finish our conversation that was so rudely interrupted the other night."

Terry stands up and points his finger at her.

"Why didn't you tell me about Dana?!"

Max was shocked by his anger and recoiled from his action, "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you not mentioning to me that Dana is hooking up with Jason Smythe! Or did that just slip your mind yet again?!" Terry angrily spoke again.

"I...I didn't know...I mean..."She struggles to say.

Terry folds his arms and looks away from her in frustration, "Damn you Max! I thought we were friends...you should have told me. I had to hear it straight from Dana's mouth that you were the one she confided in. Why didn't you tell me that last night?!"

Max put her hands on her hips and became cross with him as well.

"Why? I'll tell you why you thick headed twerp! Because I knew you'd go all to pieces on me if I did! Why can't you get it in that brain of yours that she's not coming back to you?"

"I DON'T KNOW?!" He screams even louder. "I'm still hoping that maybe she'll snap out of it...that...that she'll realize I've come back for her and that...that..."

"That what?" Max says with a calm inquisitive look.

"That I still love her. That she's the only woman I'll ever truly love forever." He exhales in a depressed state.

Max's eyes grow wide upon his admitting that, but then she begins to feel that giving her own feelings to him right now would make things even worst. The frustrated woman calms down and looks away from Terry. You could see that she had tears welling up in her eyes, but carefully tried to keep the emotion back as she talked to him in a more rational tone.

"Oh...I...I see." Max utters quietly.

Terry rubs his hair in frustration and plunks himself down into the chair again.

"God I'm so confused Max." He breathes out. "If there was ever a time I was truly lost and had no idea of what to do next...it's now. Help me Max...help me..."

Terry holds his face with his hands and sits there in total confusion. Max wipes the few tears from her face and turns around with more control over her own emotions. She walks over to him and kneels down to his lap; she pats him on the head as he continues to hold his face.

"Terry...Terr?" She says calmly to him.

She holds his chin up and looks into his eyes as she comforts him.

"I didn't realize that coming back here would be such a strain on you. You've been looking for a better life for so long I guess...I guess I didn't see it until now. Dana is gone. Sweetie you need to wake up from your teenage years and discover where you truly belong. This is your destiny...your own legacy...Dana is in your past, Bruce is in your past and even I am as well. Time to shed us all off and start fresh, cause once you become that man you're going to be forever...there's no turning back. I think you're probably right...you should end this...all of this..."

McGinnis watches her stroll through the cave and points to the entire batcave surroundings.

"This is killing you." She continues. "You're living another man's dreams and his nightmares...maybe that's why Bruce wanted you to let go of his world and create a new one for yourself."

The young man stood up and looked around the cave, he gazed at the huge collection of Batman's past and at of all the old weapons the villains had used on him during those times. McGinnis gave a sigh and looked at his good friend Max as she smiled at him.

"You're right." He said firmly. "If I'm going to be only one person...I'm going to choose being the only man I can be...just plain ol' Terry McGinnis. To hell with Gotham, to hell with Wayne Enterprises...and no more living in Batman's shadow."

Terry looks over at the console and eyes the red button sitting there, he walks over and is about to press it when suddenly Max shouts out to him.

"Wait!"

Terry stops and turns to stare at her for saying it.

"I want to be here for when you push that button."

"How do you know what it is?" Terry asks.

She twiddles her fingers and snickers slightly as she responds. "Uhm...well...I was here when Bruce recorded that message. He...he wanted to make sure he had a back up just incase you didn't return or someone discovered the cave."

"Good ol' Bruce." Terry laughs. "Always thinkin' ahead. When shall we light this thing then?"

"How bout later tonight? We can make a celebration out of it?" She chuckles.

"Well..." Terry responds scratching his head. "I'm not sure if I can make it. See...Smythe invited me to his party at the old Powers building, of course Dana will be there too...and...well..."

Max holds up her hand and shakes her head negatively.

"Don't say it. Let's just make it a final quick meeting together and you can leave right away. Trust me Terr...the sooner you go...the better we'll all be."

Max gives a last long gaze at him as she thinks of all the wasted feelings she had poured on him. The man never even considered her anything other then a friend, it tore the very heart out of the commissioner, but felt that if it did have to end between them...at least they ended on the friendship. She bolted out of the cave and ran back up the stairs as the tears once again took her over. Terry stood there wondering why she had been acting so crazy and felt bad for saying that he's going to be out of her life forever. He walked back over to the bat computer and looked up at the image of Jason Smythe still displayed with all of his background information. With one simple flick of a switch, he powered down the computer and sat slowly into the black leather-ish chair.

"So...this is how it ends. One last party...one last moment with Dana and Max... and then so long Batman. Hello Terry McGinnis...the regular joe."

A scream of a bat suddenly cried out from the cave, it echoed and echoed over and over again. Terry stood up to see where it was coming from and looked up to see one hanging near one of the lights shining down on the computer.

"Hey...I thought they all got caught and shipped out. What are you still doing here?"

The bat screamed again and out stretched his wings. The shadow fell upon Terry like a dark omen that even he couldn't ignore. It nearly terrified him as it displayed a shadow resembling the symbol he was about to destroy forever. In the frightened moment, he could almost hear Bruce's voice as Batman.

"I'll always be here." The voice in his mind spoke.


	7. Revenge Of The Jokers

Chapter Seven – Revenge Of The Jokers Gang

Staring out her window and looking over above the city below, Commissioner Max sighs with a troubled gaze. Terry had confessed the one thing she didn't want to hear, that he still was in love with Dana and that his unbound feelings for her would never change. Max had loved Terry since high school, not right away mind you, but during the later years as he began to share his secrets with her. Having been a major part of his costumed life was something she always found as a deep relationship with him, they talked about things no one else would ever know or could possibly believe, the two of them were perfectly matched for each other as they sought to solve the many mysteries of Gotham's criminal element.

As she touched the window pane with her hand and thought about all the times they spent together as friends, she began to realize that perhaps it was best that she had never revealed to Terry about her love for him. If things had not worked out, perhaps their whole friendship would have died just as his decision to end Batman's reign forever.

Suddenly, a holographic image of a female police officer appeared from behind and was giving a panicked look.

"Commissioner! We've got a situation down here in Old Gotham!"

Not bothering to turn around to face the frightened woman, Max gave a sigh and closed her eyes.

"What else is new?"

"Seriously Ms. Gibson!" The woman shouted again at her. "There's a bomb threat at the Wayne Memorial Hospital! It's loaded with people inside with a group of Jokers holding the trigger demanding you come and hear their demands!"

"Now that is a new low..." Maxine growls as she finally turns around to face the female officer. "This better not be hoax or else I'm seriously going to declare an all out war on their gang! Tell them I'm on my way..."

"Yes Commissioner!" The officer woman salutes to her.

The transmission fades and Gibson taps one of the buttons built into her desk.

"This is Commissioner Gibson...All units, repeat all units to level one Gotham and surround Wayne Memorial Hospital. This is a code 9...move out!"

She rushes out her door and finds the officers all scrambling about all over the place. They had all heard her announcement and were gearing up in their black and white protective suits. Helmets with straps and body armor that could shield them from weapons fire covered them from head to foot. Two officers walked along side of Max as she headed out and took a look at her own hand weapon to make sure it was fully loaded and ready. As the police building stood in the middle of Gotham City like a beacon of hope, a flood of flying black and white police cars came speeding out from below it. Sitting in the main squad vehicle was Maxine, she had personally taken control of the car and was driving down to the lower level of Gotham City like a woman possessed. She was at the end of her thread with these Jokers and felt the time had come to end this deadly gang once and for all.

As the group of cars rushed down past the inner core, a group of painted faced clowns ran up to the police station building and entered the parking structure the police just came from. Taking out steel bats and spray cans of paint, they took out the security cameras watching the parking lot and quickly moved inside. They all paused to watch the massive motorcade disappearing into the depths of the city from a near by opening. Snickering and looking at each other with great big grins, the group took a moment to enjoy the sight.

"We did it Bigpants! Those cops are so dumb!" The one skinny looking clown said.

"Yep. Just like Mr. S planned." The baggy purple pants henchman responded. "Time to really send these cops for a loop. We'll show them nobody messes with the Jokers this time!"

"Hey Bigpants?" The skinny clown asked.

"What is it Squeakers?"

"Where does he get these wonderful toys?" He humorously inquires as he pulls out a strange looking round device.

Bigpants slaps him on the head and points inward to the parking lot.

"Quit saying that will ya? That's the tenth time I've heard you say that to me and it ain't funny anymore. Get going already!"

Grabbing the skinny clown, the group runs towards the main enterance into the police tower and break into the glass doors.

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Across the city, Terry arrives at the old Powers building in his rental car and steps out as he lets the valet take over. Looking at the super tall structure, he could hardly believe that he once came here with Bruce Wayne and had his first meeting with the man that had killed his father. Mr. Powers, or Blight as he would become known as, was the complete opposite of Wayne. He had money and influence that corrupted his morals and eventually made him the very creature he had become. Blight was a formative foe to Terry's Batman days, but once he was gone, it amazed him that even his son Paxton Powers was just as bad as his father. Paxton tried to destroy Batman many times, he even tried to outwit Bruce Wayne by attempting to regain control of his company. But remembering those moments always made Terry laugh. Out smart Wayne? It was sweet justice to see the spoiled brat fail miserably. Getting caught for criminal connections made sure Paxton would never see the light of day again, locked away deep with in Gotham's Maximum Security Prison will give him plenty of time to think of just how stupid he really was.

Walking into the building and into the main hall, McGinnis saw the large well dressed crowd that had assembled for the event and even gazed up to look at the huge banner that said - Congratulations to Dana And Jason on their Engagement! After witnessing that sign, he'd wondered why he bothered to come at all. But then before he could even turn around to leave, he suddenly heard her voice calling him.

"Terry!" Dana shouted to him.

Looking for her in the jumble of people, she soon stepped forward in a stunning red Geisha-looking dress that made her look beyond beautiful in his eyes.

"Hello Dana." He merely smiled as she approached.

"I'm so glad you did make it. I could use a break from the normal boring conversation from Jason's business associates."

"Well, to be honest Dana...I wasn't really sure if I wanted to be here at all."

That gave her a moment of hesitation as she could see that this was awkward for the former boyfriend of hers. She gabbed his hand and pulled him into the middle of the room.

"Hey!" Terry yelped at her. "What are you doing?"

"Terry McGinnis...You are not going to ruin this day by making me feel bad. I demand you mingle and have a good time." She said in a sarcastic voice.

Once they came to the center of the room, McGinnis saw she was leading him straight over to Jason Smythe. Terry gave a terrified gulp as she dragged him over and saw Smythe turn around to welcome him.

"Ah Great! Terry, you made it! So glad too see you again!" The man cheerfully smiled at him.

"Yeah..." McGinnis said as soon as Dana let him go. "Wouldn't have missed this for the world."

Dana stood beside her future husband and rapped her arm around Smythe's arm. Giving loving stares at one another, it made Terry lower his own gaze down, as he didn't want to witness the exchanging glares.

"It's a lovely turn out dear." She said to Jason.

"Everyone in this room is tied to our lives darling." Jason grinned back. "And they'll soon be there for our big day...when we tie our bonds of love forever and ever."

Terry wanted to vomit. He couldn't believe Dana truly liked hearing that mushy crap, even when they were dating she never liked saying those awfully cliché words, she had once told him that if she ever did, make sure she was shot in the head first.

"Tell me Terry...are you coming to our wedding?" Jason suddenly said to him.

"Well...I...uh...that is to say..." McGinnis stuttered.

Dana suddenly stepped in to break the question, "Oh, I think he might be busy on that day hon. But if I were him? I'd definitely be there to support a friend."

The hint she gave was one that Terry couldn't ignore, he was trapped from the guilt from leaving her all those years ago and had to agree to make up for it.

"Of course. I'll be there with bells on...or perhaps just a proper fitting tux."

Jason laughed at the young man's witty answer and slapped him on the back with delight.

"Funny guy...this is a funny guy Dana. I can't think of how you managed to let this one slip away from you?"

Dana looked at Terry dead on and agreed with her beau. "I can't imagine how either. Perhaps, it just wasn't meant to be."

McGinnis stared back at her. He could see in her beautiful eyes that anything they once were together in the past was now gone. There was nothing but a cold glare straight at him, one that made him realize once and for all...she no longer loved him.

"Perhaps it wasn't." Terry uttered back in a serious tone.

Jason suddenly felt the tension and cleared his throat at the two of them.

"Well...uh...Dana, honey? I think I need to talk to McGinnis here for a while...alone. You know...business."

Dana smiled at Jason and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Of course dear. I'll just go grab some punch and listen to more boring relatives."

As she walked away, Jason turned to Terry and blocked his view from watching Dana leave.

"You know Terry...I was thinking...maybe you shouldn't come to the ceremony after all. I mean, this must be getting very weird for both of you and well...Dana doesn't need this kind of stress in her life."

"Are you threatening me Jason?" Terry squints at him.

"Not at all. But once this company merge is complete...I think it would be best if you didn't pop into her life anymore. That's just a bit of friend to friend advice."

"Jason...don't worry." Terry breathes out. "Once this is over. It's over. I'm leaving Gotham forever."

Smythe smiles and pats him on the back again. "Now that's sound reasoning my boy. Get out there...see the world...maybe find a new love? Just don't ever think about coming back to this city...don't worry...Powers and Wayne are in good hands once more."

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Surrounding the Wayne Memorial Hospital is a mass of Police and hovering cruisers. The officers all have their weapons pointed at the building and lights are all fixed at the semi-retired hospital. Max stands there wearing her leathery jacket and has a micro-head set attached. The blinking lights of the police vehicles randomly change the hue of the street with its red and blue tone. She switches on the small device on her head and looks up at the building's windows.

"This is Commissioner Gibson! Release the hostages and maybe we can work out a deal?" Her voice projects loudly through the night air.

Dead silence was the response she got right away; Max gave a look of frustration and spoke out once again.

"I said this is Commissioner Max Gibson! Show yourselves and lets talk!"

"High Maxie!" A red gloved hand waves out the top floor of the hospital. "I love that jacket by the way...did you get that on third and forth?"

Max was taken back by that stupid remark, but suddenly realized whom it was that was speaking.

"Dee Dee? Dee Dee is that you?"

"Awww shoot. You guessed, no fair...." The woman said back to her. "Maybe I should have lowered my voice more? What do you think?"

"Cut the crap sister! Is this nothing but show? Or should I have to send in the troops to get medieval on your hides?!" Max shouted back in anger.

Both Dee Dee stood in front of the windows and aimed their weapons down at the cops. The guns were massive, the looked almost like military issue tank busters and were pulsating with a green glow inside the barrels.

"I think..." Dee Dee on the right spoke. "You should really learn your manners! We've got several city councilors up here including the Mayor himself! So if I were you...."

Dee Dee fired her huge black gun and destroyed a group of cruisers sitting below. The blast created a huge crater and made everyone shield themselves from the debris that came crashing down. Dee Dee blew her smoking barrel and smiled as she finished her sentence.

"I think you'd better do as we say...bitch!"

Max looks over at her male police aid standing nearby.

"Can we confirm this?"

"They might have...I'm not sure."

Max slaps him on the head and shouts furiously. "Well get a move on and make sure!!"

"Right Ma'm!" He salutes and rubs his head after her strike.

Maxine keeps her weapon locked on the two women as she notices them mocking the officers by sticking out their tongues and giggling at them.

"That's it you twisted hags...keep laughing. As soon as you slip up, your going to get a full taste of punishment to the Max!" She whispers to herself.

Suddenly a voice booms out from behind the Commissioner, one that sounds familiar and very proud.

"Maybe I should handle this for you Ms. Gibson."

Recognizing the voice, the woman turns around to face the person and gives a surprised glare. The Caucasian man towers over her in his full black outfit and has a white symbol that stands out on his chest that anyone would know by heart.

"Superman?!" She exclaimed.

"If Terry won't protect this city...then I will." He stated in a firm voice.


	8. The Day Gotham City Stood Still

Chapter Eight – The Day Gotham City Stood Still

Superman stood over Max as she cowered behind the futuristic looking squad car; her eyes were fixed on the man of steel, as he looked up at the building in a defiant gaze and used his super vision to look into the aging old hospital. Through his eyes we can see the twin sisters DeeDee and a group of men and women all tied up in a circle. They were sitting on the floor and had their heads covered with a black bag. Superman relaxed his vision and gave a calm sigh as he realized this would be a simple matter of taking out the two girls and rescuing the hostages. Superman began to hover above the ground at a very slow pace and as he started to rise up beyond the patrol cars, Maxine shouted at the black dressed superhero.

"Hey! Where do you think your going?"

"To do Batman's old job...relax Commissioner, this will all be over in matter of seconds."

Max didn't like his smug answer, it almost made her want to aim her gun at him and shoot him from behind the ear. Something about superheroes and their egos just grates on her nerves; even Terry manages to tick her off now and then. But it's become more "Now" since he's returned. She stood helplessly as the man of steel continued to take his time to fly up to the building; she shook her head and gave a glib remark.

"I thought he was supposed to be Metropolis's man in tights. What...you're city not big enough?"

Superman turned his head to her and gave a scowl of disapproval. She had forgotten about his super hearing and soon gave an embarrassed smile to him while batting her eyes.

"Oh...ah...hehehe!" She uttered.

DeeDee both watched the man of steel slowly rise up to them and gave a quick gulp in unison.

"Not good DeeDee." The first one nervously said.

"Looks like we're in trouble DeeDee." The second twin shuttered.

The two girls quickly sprinted over to the hostages and stood behind the sitting group. Both took in a deep breath as they gave a comforting wink to one another and pointed their weapons at the hostages' heads. Superman made his entrance known as he pounded through the wall and came floating in with his eyes shining red as they prepared to target the women's guns.

"Not so fast fly boy!" The first twin ordered at him. "Cool them hot peepers of yours."

"Yeah!" The other sister said. "You may take out the guns...but I'll bet we could send a shot out before you had time to stop it."

Superman dims his eyes and brings himself down onto the floor. He folds his arms over like a scolding parent and gives them a stare that would make anyone shiver in their pants.

"You obviously haven't thought this thing through."

In a blurred flash, the man of steel disarms the girls as he uses his super speed to snatch the weapons and return to where he was standing previously in a matter of a few seconds. Holding the weapons in his hands, he crushes them together like silly putty and drops the mangled mess on the floor.

"Uh oh." DeeDees both say with a soft voice.

"Now then..." Superman says as he folds his arms over again. "Shall we do this the hard way...or the easy way? Barring in mind that either choice makes no difference...to me...it's all easy."

The twin sisters huddle together and begin whispering, Superman for some reason can't hear what the two are muttering about, giving him reason to believe the two aren't really talking at all.

"Fun time is over ladies...a year in jail should give you reason enough to change your ways."

Both girls turn around with a devilish look on their faces.

"Oh please..." The first twin laughs. "We've been in and out of jail so many times we've got frequent flyer miles!"

"In fact..." The other sister gestures oddly. "I'd say that the only thing that is going to change around here...is this city. Now how bout a nice big smile Supes!"

From out behind the woman's back is a rocket launcher, the rocket inside is glowing green and soon gets shot directly at the man of steel. His eyes grow wide with horror as he notices the deadly substance the rocket is made out of...Kryptonite. Without a second to leap out of the way, the small bomb manages to make a big enough explosion against the hero to send him hurling out the building and down into the other side of an alleyway. Max was surprised by the sizable blast and noticed Superman being thrown down to the streets like a bullet. The twin girls stood at the mouth of the newly made smoldering hole on the building side and giggled at their handy work.

"Hot damn DeeDee...he truly is fast as a bullet!"

"Silly Superman...giving up is for kids."

Max tore herself away from shielding her body with a squad car and ran down to the ally where Superman had fallen. The dimly lit lane was full of brick and littered with debris from the hero's fall, he had also crashed through several other buildings and even managed to warp the ground from the crater his body made upon impact.

"Superman?!" She cried out.

"Oooh..." The low moan of the man echoed. "Stupid Clark...real stupid."

He climbed his way out of the large hole in the ground and stood up in front of Max to show her he was all right. She just gave a quick sigh of relief and patted him on the chest.

"Anything broken?" She laughed.

"Just my ego...the rocket they surprised me with must have only been cased with Kryptonite. If it had been anything more...I'm sure I would be more bruised."

"Good thing they didn't lace it with the stuff...now come on...lets go offline a couple of clown bitches."

Superman gave her a quick smirk, he likes this girl, she's direct and very tough when dealing with criminals. He had never really met any of the other police commissioners of this city, Batman mainly dealed with all of them, but it was good to know that Gotham had someone that would fight tooth and nail with the worst criminal elements. Brushing the dust off of his large white emblem, the Kryptonian man cracked his knuckles and agreed with her.

"Payback time."

"That's what you think." A male voice responded out of the dark alley.

A green streak of light shot out from the darkness and struck Superman dead on. His cries of pain from the blast echoed through the night sky as the laser forced him to collapse on the ground as if his strength was lifted from him. Max drew out her gun and began firing in the direction of the source of light. She poured whatever ammo was in her small hand held weapon and stopped firing the minute the laser stopped. She was breathing heavy and could hear the beating of her heart as she kept her eyes focused at the darkness.

"Really Ms. Gibson...do you honestly think that was going to work?" The voice spoke again.

"That's it...keep talking...gives me something to target at." She growled.

Firing her weapon again, she took no chances and began shooting all around the shadowed area. Superman lay at her feet totally helpless and began drifting in and out of consciousness. Suddenly a Max saw an object being whipped out at her, watched it drop near her. It was a yellow banana with a large smiling grin on it. At first she slightly giggled at the thought of this idiot resorting to throwing fruit at her, but then it sunk in, as this was no mere banana. A quick explosion from it sent a cloud of gas to form all around her, choking and inhaling the toxic fumes the woman collapsed near Superman and fainted from the powerful smoke. Superman's eyes opened as he felt her drop, her face was grinning as he looked upon her, the effect of the deadly toxin the mysterious person launched at her.

"That's better. Smile and the whole world smiles with you." The un-emotional voice stated as it came closer to them both.

Superman looked up and could barely focus his vision, there was a man standing over them with a large green pulsating weapon and wearing a mask with a very eerie smile.

"Who...are...you?" Superman tried to speak.

"Ah, yes...how rude of me Superman...or should I say...Clark Kent." The man answered as he knelt down. "Mr. Smiley is the name...glad to meet you at long last. I hope this Kryptonite fusion cannon isn't too uncomfortable for you...because if it isn't...I'll simply up the dosage!"

Smiley stands back up and points the cannon back at the man of steel. Holding on to the massive weapon with both hands, he fires it again. Clark screams in agony as the laser rips into ever cell in his body and makes him flinch wildly. After giving the hero the long jolt of power from his cannon, Smiley takes out a small communicating device from his purple coat pocket and speaks into it.

"Kidnap Hoax is over boys and girls...now then...let's take this city. The Jokers rule Gotham City now!"

In the surrounded hospital, both twin girls squeal in joy and dance around. The hostages stand up, remove their roped hands and take off their hoods. Every one of the hostages was a joker clown in disguise, all of them were laughing and giggling at how easily Smiley's plan worked.

"Ok gang!" The first twin DeeDee spoke. "Let's give these cops the biggest show on Earth!"

"Yeah!" The gang shouted in unison.

Taking out all of their weapons from a near by duffle bag, the group ran over to every opening, window or hole they could find and began shooting at the police. The Gotham police where totally unprepared for the attack and began losing ground the thugs with their military style weapons. A group of scared policemen huddled together and shouted at one another on what to do next.

"Holy crap! Is that an army they got up there?" The first one asked.

"Where the hell is the Commissioner?" The second one screamed.

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Back at the police station, the rest of the Joker gang came running out from the building and dove over a few cars across the street. Giggling and laughing in their trademark way, they all lifted their heads and looked at Big Pants as he gestured with his hand in a gun like motion.

"Boom!"

The building shattered from the blast and caused the monolithic tower to collapse down like a giant sinking. Smoke billowed upward as it disappeared from view, the city horizon looking far different, as the only thing left was a massive cloud of smoke where the police station once stood.

People everywhere stopped in their tracks and looked at the station sinking into the city. In parks outside, in the various other windowed buildings, and even in cars hovering above, the people where horrified by the sight. Over at the Smythe/Dana engagement party, one of Smythe's security men quickly ran through the reception to tell him of the devastating news.

"Everyone! There has been an attack on Gotham!" Smythe suddenly yelled over the busy yapping crowd. "The police station has just been destroyed!"

The partygoers all gasped at his news and quickly talked to one another louder, the mood was nervous and full of fear. Terry was also shocked to hear of the sudden attack, but then his mind shifted to only one thought.

"Max!" He said to himself in a loud tone.

Dana came running over to Terry and also feared for the safety of his friend.

"Oh god Terry...this is horrible! Max might have been in there!"

Terry's mind raced to think of what to do, he had so wanted to live a normal life, to be just a normal guy without having to put the worries of Gotham on his shoulders. But when he kept thinking about what might have happened to his good friend and the thought of this never-ending hell the Jokers would put everyone in...the time had come to stop thinking on 'What would I do?' but rather, 'What would Batman do?'

As he was about to leave, he noticed an oddly wrapped gift on the reception table, full of bright colors, smiling faces and a big red bow. All of the other presents sitting on the table where white and yellow, a much more sophisticated and elegant group of gifts then the one that stood out like a sore thumb. As Terry walked over to the table with curiosity, Dana followed him as he eyed the gift and looked at her while pointing at it.

"Wait...who brought that one?" He asked.

"Huh? Oh you mean that? Funny...I...I don't remember." She said with a confused look.

"What clown brought..." Terry stopped speaking in mid-sentence and his eyes grew wide with realization. "Clown?!! Run Dana!"

He grabbed her and dove out of the way as the present soon exploded as if it was on cue to Terry's discovery. The blast sent people flying everywhere as the force of it caused them all to fall. Terry rose up after wards and noticed that Dana wasn't still in his arms; she was a few feet away and looked badly hurt. Jason Smythe came running up to her and clutched her body with emotion.

"Dana! DANA! Nooo! God No!"

Jason listened to her chest and gave a nervous cry of relief as he looked at Terry, who also was looking very worried about her.

"She's...she's ok...she breathing...I need to take her to a hospital. Someone...GET HER TO A HOSPITAL!!"

As Jason picked up his young bride to be, Terry looked at the room and the total devastation the bomb did to the surrounding people. All were gasping for air, trying to treat their wounds and even giving woeful sighs.

"Damn you Bruce. You knew this would happen." He uttered to himself. "And curse me for not seeing that you were right all along. This isn't a time for change...it's a time for war."

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A sudden click of a light switch and the whooshing sound of power snapping on soon reveals the Bat cave and all of its various levels. Walking down the staircase with the light casting behind Terry like sunshine, the boy looks at the cave with all of its gadgets, vehicles and equipment with a strange, bold glare. Stepping down to where the costumes hang in a glass closet, air sealed to preserve their fibers, he lifts his head up and stands at the only costume he's ever worn his entire life.

"I know now why you wore that costume for so long, Bruce. You can't save one life without saving all of them. If this is my fate...if I am cursed as you once were...then I'm glad it's as the one who will make a difference for the better."

He opens the case door and looks at the black costume with the deep blood red icon of a bat. With one hand he whisks the costume off of its stationary position and begins slipping it on. The entire body suit is one piece, specially designed to fit whomever wears it. Having grown and beefed up since last time, the bat suit forms to his body like a well-placed glove. With the hood of the costume still not placed on yet, he closes his eyes and reaches back. He slides the black pointy-eared cowl on with a long sigh and opens his eyes, which only show two white slits. Now fully dressed as Batman, Terry turns around and looks at the entire cave.

"I'm Back."

"And so am I..." Bruce's voice announces in his head.


	9. Return Of The Dark Knight

Chapter Nine – Return Of The Dark Knight

Terry gasps in disbelief as he hears Bruce speak in his head again. This wasn't like the inner voice he had listened too before; in fact, this was coming from within the suit he was wearing.

"Bruce? Is that you?"

"Not exactly." The raspy old voice of Wayne replied. "I anticipated that you would return and downloaded this visual interface should you slip on the suit again."

"Visual interface?" Terry says questioningly. "What the heck are you..."

Suddenly his eyes go black and his vision is now faced with a wall of glowing green numbers, grid lines and scrolling data that seems to almost pull his mind in. As he stands there in a digitally created version of himself, so too does a green image of Bruce Wayne; the old man was looking just the same as he had left him.

"Sorry bout the drama. Guess I could have just as easily done this without all the graphics." He snickers.

Terry stands there in awe and looks at the computer-imaged man with confusion. "What is all this? Are you really here?"

"As I said before...not exactly. I programmed the suit to respond to any possible inquiry you might ask. There's not much time to explain, seeing how this recording only lasts for a few minutes. Terry, within this suit I've downloaded my brain patterns and the entire memory core of the bat computer. This suit is now capable to perform any task usually done in the bat cave itself. You can look at files, analyze chemicals using your finger tips and so on and so fourth."

"No way..." Terry gasps.

"If need be, you can download this whole thing into another computer should you not want to have only one version that might get destroyed. I highly recommend you do this." Wayne says to him as he raises his eyebrows. "Now comes the final question that you need to answer before we say our final goodbyes and my digital self becomes part of the computer matrix for good."

"What's the question?" Terry asks curiously.

"Batman...do you want to be him for the rest of your life? There's still a chance to turn away kid...all you have to do is take off this costume and leave it in the cave...then push the button. No more late nights flying around Gotham, no more risking your personal time or life to help the people and you can go off and leave here forever. As I said to you before in the cave, I won't think any less of you if you walk away...sometimes I wondered what life would have been like not being Batman...but I chose my path. Now it's your turn to decide Terry, are you in? Or are you out?"

Terry's digital imaged self gave a look of thinking the matter in his head, it wasn't too late for him to turn back, but thinking about the Jokers and his good friend Max in trouble...he gave the only response he could.

"I'm definitely in."

The image of Wayne slowly disappeared as the old man smiled at his answer; the bat symbol began to shine in his place as the green light outlined the entire shape.

"Good. You've been the best replacement I've ever had Terry...and here's a few things to help you along the way."

New images exploded out of the symbol in green and red, architectural and vehicle blueprints, weapons designs and other various schematics.

"I've decided to give you everything you need to start on your own, even a new place of residence in the heart of the city. I even put in the suit modifications you once asked me for, even though I wasn't sure it was possible. Funny how technology tends to speed up and get better every year. Whatever else needs to be made is up to you now...but just know that I am with you ever step of the way and that all that I have learned or studied is now in this computer forever. Good luck Terry...or should I say...Batman."

The costume eyes on McGinnis begin to open white again, with Bruce's voice echoing in his mind for one last time, he heads over to the old bat computer and looks at the switch. Gazing up at the cave one last time, he breathes out and holds his finger over the button.

"So much for one legacy...time to make a new one."

Pushing the button down, a red light flashes throughout the whole cave and a warning horn blares out across the cave. The drone computer voice speaks out as it gives the count down.

"Warning! Warning! Self-destruct activated! T-minus fifteen seconds to detonation...fifteen...fourteen...thirteen..."

As the countdown begins, Terry walks quickly towards the futuristic Batmobile that he had used during his time as the Dark Knight. But as he heads to the sleek black vehicle, he suddenly stops as he looks at the glass case where all the old costumes hang. It's a humbling experience to him as he looks at the former lives of all those who've come before him. Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl and even Batman himself are all about to be come a distant memory as the cave blows up. A smirk quickly comes on his face as he looks at Bruce's old outfit; the suit hangs there as if the man himself is standing proudly within.

The computer continues to count down.

"Ten...nine...eight...seven...six...five...four...three...two..."

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Outside the stately Wayne Manor, the quiet night suddenly erupts into a violent explosion as the house rips apart from the final count of the computer voice. The rocky cliff it sits on also bursts into fire as it suddenly gives way and begins to slowly descend into the water below. Like a missile being launched, the Batmobile comes streaking out of the cave as it soars into the night sky. The vehicle spins around in the air and hovers over the doomed estate. Nothing is left sitting on that lone cliff-face anymore, as if all traces of Wayne's life suddenly vanished in the matter of moments and leaving nothing but a smoldering ruin of where his home once stood. Inside the sleek black car, Terry watches the whole plot of land fall into the ocean and gives a solemn bow in memory.

"It's done Bruce. I hope I do you proud from here on out."

Flicking on a few switches beside him and placing his hands tightly onto the controls, the red-lit interior gives Batman a demonic look as his eyes squint at the view ahead of the city.

"Now then...its time to kick some Jokerz ass!"

The car zooms away from the explosion and roars into the city like a sonic jet making its way in for an attack. The car looks exactly as it has since Terry's time, not really needing modifications at all the car is still high tech for its day.

"Computer...activate locator on Max Gibson." Terry says in his Batman raspy voice.

"Searching...." The computer responded in Bruce's voice. "Trace link not found."

"Damn...where is she? Computer...give me a visual scan of Gotham and locate Gotham P.D."

"Searching..." The familiar voice replies.

On the windshield in front of him, a small holographic display activates and shows a detailed schematic of the city and of the area where the police are pinned down. Red blinking lights show the position of both the cops and the Jokerz standing off at one another from below and above.

"All units are currently engaged in a stand off at the old Wayne Memorial Hospital. Major weapons fire detected."

Batman's eyes squint down again as he grits his white teeth, they seem to peer through his dark costumed look as it shows his anger building up.

"She better not be dead...or so help me...I'll beat that smile off their faces for good!"

The car flips and speeds through the labyrinth of buildings, old road ways and joining skywalks as it rushes down to the lower levels in no time flat. Streaking across the city sky, people all stop to look up and witness the return of the familiar car that once graced Gotham before. Men gawked in awe at the sight, women tore to the windows to see the vehicle speed past and children chanted with delight, as they knew all too well who was in that one of a kind car.

"Go get them, Batman!!" Some of the kids shouted with joy.

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Pinned down below the hospital, the police continue to fire away at the heavily armed thugs raining laser fire at them. As more squad cars begin to blow up and all hope seemingly fading for them, a sudden roar of a jet engine makes them all look up at the sky and notice the Batmobile racing in.

"What the-?" A female cop says as she stares at it.

"No way?! Is that what I think it is?" The black officer asks.

The Jokerz all stop in their weapons firing and also notice the car coming towards them at high velocity.

"We got big trouble DeeDee!! With a capital 'B'!!" The one clown screams.

Both girls look up and give a worried gaze as they both share a thought.

"Oh..."

"...Crap!"

Inside the red-lit interior of the Batmobile, Batman uses the holo-targeting systems on the windshield and locks on to the building where the Jokerz are standing.

"Computer...lock on and fire!"

The car quickly flips open a side panel on either side of it's black outer shell and two multi-missile launchers come extending outward. The bombs come screaming out of the launchers and strike the building hard; the explosions rock the area as it nearly levels the building side completely. Fleeing for their lives, the Jokerz scramble to find cover from the fly debris. After the strike settles, Batman opens up the bottom floor and ejects into the air as the car continues on past without him driving. He spreads his arms out wide and a pair of his bat wings unfolds as it helps him glide to the building below. Landing perfectly inside the now exposed building, he folds his wings back into his techno-advanced bat suit and looks at the results of his work.

"Knock-knock." He calmly says in a sarcastic tone.

Many of the gang had been knocked out or trapped in some of the wreckage, but the two DeeDee girls slowly stood up from behind a battered office desk and gave a comical, all be it, nervous grin at that.

"Hey...Bats. Long time no see...ah...heheheh." DeeDee on the right says.

The other one nods and also greets him in the same manner. "Yah...you look...uh...good."

Batman walks in slowly and stares them down.

"I'm only going to say this once DeeDee so listen good...where is Commissioner Gibson?"

"You didn't say the magic word Bats!" DeeDee on the left suddenly laughs.

"Yeah! There are manners ya know...being rude just doesn't cut the mustard." The other one giggles.

"Wrong answer!" Batman growls.

The Dark Knight leaps over to grab hold of them both only to watch them split away from him on either side and try to kick him in the head. In a quick response, he ducks and rolls out of their way and snaps around with a pair of bat-a-rangs thrown directly at them. The girls managed to flip in an impressive acrobatic motion to avoid them and land back on their feet. Both women smile with their painted faces giving them the appearance of dolls with a demented look.

"You're not the only one to get better with age Batman..."

"Yeah...we're the new improved Jokerz girls! Now how bout a nice big smile!"

Both sisters suddenly run towards him in an angered state and growl as they prepare to give him a double fisted punch. Batman doesn't even bother to move as he simply turns his belt buckle and disappears out of sight. The women soon realize they're swinging into air and turn around to look for him.

"Oh no...not that old trick again." DeeDee states.

"We've improved on that too bats..." The other woman says as her eyes suddenly go light green. "I can seeeee you!"

The un-natural green glow of her eyes expose Batman's location not too far away from them. In her view, the special green eyes expose the outlined frame of Batman as he becomes aware she is looking straight at him. With her sister hanging behind to watch, the evil green eyed DeeDee somersaults in at the man with quick speed and snaps around to give him a foot across the face. Unprepared for the attack, Batman is knocked down as he gives a grunt from the forceful hit.

"Looky-Looky...Batman ain't so spooky!" The woman chuckles.

Standing back up and giving his mouth a wipe, Batman turns off his invisible cloaking device while shaking off the pain.

"Splicing? Or cybernetic enhancements? Trust me DeeDee...green is not your color." He says in his usual arrogant tone.

The girl growls at his humor and comes in to give him another hit, but this time he reacts much faster and manages to dive over her. Landing on his feet again, he turns around and throws a small black ball at her. The object ejects a large smoke cloud and causes her to lose her vision for a brief moment. Swinging away in the darkness, she did not notice that she had accidentally walloped her sister.

Batman snickered at the two women and stood there with his arms folded over.

"If this is the improvement...then you really have put a smile on my face."

DeeDee apologized to her sister and helped her up. Both women were furious at the costumed hero and now rushed in with more acrobatic stunts as they moved in for the kill. Watching their timing and studying them carefully, Batman simply brought both his arms up and clenched his fists. Small slits opened in his black arms and a massive sonic pulse blasted into the clown women duo causing them to be hurled away like rag dolls. As they flew across the devastated room, they finally hit the only remaining cement wall and collapsed from the impact. Batman lowered his arms and patted his suit.

"Thanks for the upgrades Bruce...Sonic Bat Pulse was the best idea yet."


	10. Follow Those Clowns

Chapter Ten – Follow Those Clowns

Walking past the debris and beating down a few Jokerz that leapt up at him as he made his way over to the twin DeeDee girls, he finally came to the spot where both of them were laying on the ground and groaning in pain.

"Ok ladies..." Batman says in a more relaxed tone. "Now that the fun is over, how bout you start telling me where you have the commissioner. Just remember I'm in no mood to hear your twisted sense of humor so...please...be honest or be prepared for another dose of my kind of justice."

"Not at all as we quite remembered him from last time, huh DeeDee?"

"He's so serious all of a sudden...poor lil' guy lost his only friend and mentor and now he's taking it out on us."

The two girls gazed up at him as they tried to stand up and use the wall they were thrown on as a means of keeping balance.

"So now you've lost your Commissioner girly now too huh?" The first DeeDee smiled.

"Geez Terry...You just can't keep anyone safe can ya?" The other one giggled.

Batman's face froze; it was odd for him to hear the twin girls talk of his true identity and of his former friend, Bruce Wayne. Though they never really spoke the man's name out loud, he knew exactly of whom they were implying. He had forgotten that the two had once tracked him down with the help of the Joker, the mutated Tim Drake version, and almost destroyed his life before in the process. So they know who he is. But for whatever reason, they never exposed his secret to the rest of Gotham.

"Enough of your crap." Batman snarled. "Just tell me where she is...NOW!"

The twins frowned at him and then both squatted down as if they were going to pounce at him. The two smiled in an evil manner and spoke together in riddles.

"If you want to find the commish..."

"And don't know where to begin..."

"Then we suggest that you find a way quick..."

"Before we kill that stupid BITCH!"

The two leaped up and launched well beyond the dark knight's head. The doll-like shoes the girls were wearing had rocket propelled springs that vaulted them out of the building and past the security forces outside. Batman tried to snare them with his bat-a-rangs, but the women managed to dodge his devices with effortless skill. The police took aim at the girls and began shooting away at them, but every laser shot missed as the twins did amazing acrobatics in the air and landed on the ground only to be flung higher and further away from the scene. As they continued to bounce out of sight, their faint giggling could be heard echoing on the wind. The police were baffled by the sight and felt they had let the commissioner down. Batman stood at the edge of the building and also watched the twins leave in the Gotham city background. As he gave a disappointed sigh, he noticed the large hole on the opposite building that seemed to go right through to a small alleyway behind it.

"What the heck? Looks too big to be the result from a rocket...or even a laser blast for that matter...."

He spread his bat wings out and glided down to the awaiting policemen who all seemed eager to talk to him.

"Where the hell did you come from?" One officer said.

"Yeah! Where's the Commissioner Batman?" The others began to scream at him.

"Ok guys! Just back off!" The lead officer said as he came to get them all under control. "We've still got some suspects up there that need to be taken care of so all of ya just get up there and arrest them."

The cops grumbled and stared at one another in frustration, but each one did as they were told, they entered the building and searched the ruins for the rest of the Jokerz clan. As the main officer turned back to talk to Batman, he noticed that the dark dressed vigilante had disappeared. He desperately looked around and couldn't see where the masked man had taken off too. Giving a disappointed sigh, the officer shook his head and joined the others in rounding up the rest of the gang.

Down in the ally, where Superman and Max had been last been, Batman soon stood at the base of the crater and studied the massive hole carefully.

"Something isn't right about all this. DeeDee is back with new improvements, Max is missing and now there's a giant hole in the ground that even I could see from the hospital."

Crouching down, Batman takes his fingers and rubs the edge of the hole with them. He soon brings them back up and looks at it with intensity. Inside his techno-suit, a chemical analysis of the residue on the fingertips gives a holographic image in front of his eyes. The suit's inner computer shows him the various compounds and graphics of the substance and finally concludes on what it is.

"Scanning residue. Chemical analysis beginning, trace elements found...high concentration of radioactive isotope known as Kryptonite." The Bruce Wayne sounding voice says to him.

"Kryptonite?" Terry says with surprise. "Why in the hell is there Kryptonite here?"

It quickly dons on him, as he clutches his fist and utters the man's name, "Superman."

Looking around, he soon discovers yet another object slightly buried in the dirt. Picking it up from the ground and wiping the dust off, he soon finds that it is Max's gun.

"Just what in the hell is going on here?" He says looking at both the gun and the Kryptonite on his fingers. "This doesn't make any sense...Superman and Max...the twins...the police station and the hospital...what's the connection?"

As he stands there mulling over the various clues, the batmobile comes hovering over him and opens the bottom floor for him. Batman streaks up to it and sits inside. As the car closes up and heads out of the ally, Terry continues to think about things as he puts the car on auto-cruise.

"Wayne Hospital was a target...but so too was a clinic not too long ago...and if I remember correctly...there was even one against the old Wayne Tech labs."

Placing his hands on the center computer controls, Batman beings tapping away on the buttons and talks to the computer as he goes.

"It's not random event...the Jokerz are trying to destroy everything that Wayne ever created or funded. But why? Computer...give me a layout of the city. Link all buildings destroyed by Joker gangs and even those that had some sort of link to Wayne Enterprises."

The holographic image displayed on the windshield in a green hue, it stood out from the red and black interior of the car and did everything that Terry requested. The map showed all the buildings and areas that had been destroyed by the gang and flashed in a yellow marker to give him the locations.

"Woah...these guys have been busy. Just look at all those...no wonder Max seems overwhelmed, but how does a low-key gang outfit turn into one of the most dangerous syndicate in just a short time? Wait a sec...that looks like...."

As he stops in mid thought, he uses the computer to trace a line to all the spots and soon discovers that it was made to look like a giant grin.

"A smile? Boy these guys are really sick...or is it someone new doing all this? Hmm...only one way to find out who's controlling this little war on Wayne. Computer...locate any trace of Kryptonite or signatures resembling the substance."

"Scanning..." The computer responds. "Trace elements found. Lower city limits, sub-section B...Gotham Royal Arms Hotel."

"Royal Arms?" He says with surprise. "I know that place...Bruce told me all about it. The night of his parents murder...they were all staying there together for a family night out. The last place Bruce would ever remember his folks being alive with him for the last time. My god...it's like they're going out of their way to end everything related to Wayne...or anyone connected with him. Which explains Superman...and possibly Max...but that's more related to Batman not Wayne. Unless...unless they know who he is or what he used to be!"

Terry throttles the controls and zooms down towards the building's location.

"Time to follow the bouncing clowns and figure out what their game is."

As the car dodges the many ruins of old bridges and buildings of the lower city, it soon comes up on the Royal Arms Hotel and hovers over the mangled remains of the roof. The bottom floor opens up again and Batman leaps down on the to decaying surface. The batmobile instantly moves away and lands on a separate building as it awaits his return. Batman quickly runs over to the only remaining stairway door, and turns the knob with his hand. The rusted metal soon dissolves from his touch and falls off the door.

"Ugh." He sighs out loud. "Cute Terry...real cute. Guess I'll have to just do this Wayne style."

The door suddenly gets ripped open from his fist punching it in, the door drops down to the base of the inside staircase and lets out a loud bang as it smacks against the granite. Slowly descending downward, Batman's eyes and bright red logo peer into the darkness as he travels inside the shadowy building.

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Batman soon enters into the large room where Mr. Smiley and his gang hangout, with no one around to meet him, Terry takes careful steps inward as he looks about for any sign of trouble. Suddenly he stops as he hears a faint muffled voice trying to say his name. Looking over to his right, he notices a dusty, old velvet curtain that is twitching and giving off those faint noises. Carefully he walks over and reaches for the curtain, pulling it away sharply, he makes a shocking discovery.

"Max! Superman!"

There lay the two victims, Superman bound and gagged as he agonizes in pain from a Kryptonite rock strapped to his chest with a booby trapped restraint holding it in place. Max was lying there with a very disturbing grin on her face, her eyes looked dilated and she had a pale complexion about her. Terry had seen this sort of thing before; the old Joker files were full of these sort of victims. In fact even Bruce Wayne had been a target of the Joker's serum when the madman came back in Tim Drake's body and discovered Wayne's secret lair. Frantically, McGinnis searched his utility belt and found a small capsule in one of the containers.

"Thank God it's still here. One left...."

He took the pill and force feed it to Max, helping her to swallow it down, the anti-toxin soon brought her color back and started to undo the large grin on her face. As she stammered to speak, Terry tried to calm her.

"Shhh...easy Max. I'll get you and Clark out of here."

"N-n-n-no..."She uttered. "D-d-d-don't...it's...it's...a...Trap!"

The lights in the room quickly came up and a loud voice boomed across the room and over towards Batman.

"Well done my Boy! Well done...I almost thought you'd be too stupid to even think of this place."

Batman spun around and saw Mr. Smiley standing on the other side of the large room with both DeeDee girls appearing with him out of the shadows.

"You seemed to save you're precious Commissioner just in the nick of time, a few more wasted minutes and...well...lets just say...she'd be smiling to her grave." The man said in a very sarcastic manner.

"So, you're the man behind all this? A sicko in a stupid smiling mask?" Batman snickered.

"Look who's talking...Terry." The man said shaking his finger.

McGinnis was amazed as he heard this evil man calmly say his real name. No doubt the twins told him who he was and probably gave away his link to Maxine.

"Oh yes, I know who you really are." The man continued. "DeeDee told me of your identity long ago. But why ruin a terrific way to exploit a situation and blab it for all to hear...not very sporting. I know everything about you, Wayne and old Clark Kent over there. In fact...you could say...I know everything Batman knows and more."

Terry gives him a curious look. "Who the hell are you?"

Taking a few steps closer to Batman, Mr. Smiley walks over with a black cane in his hand and unsheathes a long sword.

"I'm Mr. Smiley...and I've been waiting to take you on, Batman!"

His un-emotional voice suddenly gave a low chuckle, one that seemed very un-natural for the likes of him and sent shivers down the spines of both DeeDees. As he stood there giggling away, Terry's eyes lowered as he watched this madman laugh at him.


	11. Legacy's End

Chapter Eleven – Legacy's End

"As far as I'm concerned Smiley…you're just another punk Joker trying to fill some overly twisted shoes. The real Joker at least would have had a unique way of trying to lure me here. All you did was blow up some crappy old buildings and made a big smile that no one can see except on a holographic map. Call that impressive? It's pathetic."

The masked smiling man stood there still poised with his sword and lowered his eyes at Terry's insult.

"Don't you dare cheapen this moment with your snappy comebacks! I gave Gotham the supreme wedgy of a life time and showed all that Jokerz are the destined rulers of this town!"

Batman smirked as he saw his comments angered the opponent.

"You didn't show Gotham anything they haven't seen before. How sad you are…thinking that this will in some way lift the Jokerz to power. You're all a bunch of thugs with nothing better to with your time. You want to be the big man now? Fine…then lets stop dancing around the issue and see how tough you really are…Mr. Smiley."

The villain returned his sword to his hollowed out cane and sheathed it back in its place. He tossed it over to the twins and glanced at them as they both captured it in their hands.

"Hold on to that for me will you girls? I'll handle this imposter with my own two hands."

The DeeDee twins giggled and smiled as they prepared to watch their leader duke it out with the bat. Slowly the smiling masked man made steps towards the costumed hero and raised his fists.

"Now then…Terry. Let's see what you've learned from your trip abroad."

"You can't be serious?" The dark knight snickered. "There's no way you can defeat me hand-to-hand…but I guess it's your funeral."

"Actually…" Mr. Smiley said as he stared the man down. "It's yours."

The villain ran up fast to Terry and gave a deadly blow to his gut. He was so fast that the young man had no chance to react at all. It was un-natural the way he moved, almost as if he had super powers himself. The impact of the punch made Batman fling to the back of the room and smacked his body against the wall.

"What the hell?!" Terry thought. "His fist felt like it was made of lead!"

As Batman grasped his stomach in pain and proudly stood up again, Smiley remained in a crouched stance and giggled.

"Had enough, Kid? Or do you need more to get the point?"

Terry hated to lose.

"My turn!" He growled.

With the aid of his rocket-propelled boots, he launched himself with both fists pointed out and rushed in to give the purple-suited smiler his payback. Knocking the man down on his back, Terry continued to fly past him, but gave a look of pain again as he shield his hands after the attack. Landing on the ground again, he tried to move his fingers slowly and could feel the nearly shattered bones.

"What are you?!" Batman screamed. "I've heard of hard heads…but this is like punching Superman!"

Mr. Smiley rose from ground and wiped his jacket shoulders as he turned to face the wounded hero.

"Still haven't figured it out yet huh? What a pity. The real Batman would have known by now…guess your just not cut out to fill the man's shoes. Or cowl I should say."

The fury in Terry's eyes grew as he the man taunted him. In a blind of rage, Batman came at the villain and began punching and kicking at him with every form of fighting he had ever studied. Each impact did little to damage his nemesis, as the blows continued to pour out at the suited individual, Mr. Smiley snickered at the desperation.

"Is that all you've got? Is that the best you can do? Now who's pathetic little man?"

Grabbing the dark knight, Smiley lifted him over his head with relative ease and snarled with anger as he threw the hero over to his table and shattered it with his body. Terry gasped in agony as he sat there in the debris. The bat suit flickered sparks of blue as parts of it had become torn, inside the cowl he could see his visuals flickering like a damaged monitor. Blood now trickled out of the side of his mouth as tried to stand up once again. He held on to his right side feeling as if he had broken some ribs and looked up at the masked villain in defiance.

"You see Terry." Mr. Smiley chuckled. "You can't win against the likes of me. Gotham City belongs to me now, it's time to put away your feeble costumed life and bring an end to Batman once and for all."

"NEVER!!" He shouted back at him. "You'll have to kill me first before I let you get your hands on Gotham City!"

The masked smiling man sighed. "So be it. Guess I'll just have to kill you then!"

Maxine and Superman heard the threat and both gave a worried look at the crippled Batman.

"My…my god. Terry…don't!" Superman whispered as he tired to speak. The Kryptonite device hanging around his neck was still making him very weak and slowly killing the man of steel.

"We've got to help him." Max stated. "If I could only undo the binds on my hands. Ugh! We could…Ugh! Try to even out the numbers…and take out this lunatic together."

Two slender looking boots stepped into her view as she lay there on the floor and gazed up at both DeeDee twins hovering over her with a pair of oversized hand weapons. It looked similar to that of their old nana Harley's weapon when she used to terrorize Gotham with the original Joker.

"Ah-Ah-Ah!" The one twin said looking down. "Don't even try it doll! This is a battle to the death…so no wrecking the fun."

"Yeah Commish!" Her sister added. "Just relax and enjoy watching you're favorite man get beaten to a pulp."

Max gritted her teeth at them and continued to work on freeing her hands.

"Keep the kids settled DeeDee." Smiley shouted to her. "This won't take long."

As he shifted his eyes back over to Batman, still struggling to stand up straight, he continued to giggle in an evil manner and got his fists ready to strike again.

"Any last words, Batman?"

Terry's face soon gave a look of realization and his eyes quickly lowered into a calm state.

"Just two…Knight fall"

Suddenly his bat suit quickly transformed as layers of thick metal surrounded his entire body. It was as black as his regular suit but more bulky and defined as it transformed him into an armored menace. The red bat insignia now glowed on his chest and his head became chiseled and hard like a carved rock. His eyes pulsated a red hue as they powered up and caused the masked smiler to step back in awe. After the transformation was over, the heavy plated Batman pointed his massive claw like fingers at the man and spoke in a digital voice as his mouth was now covered completely.

"Let's try this again…shall we?"

"Oh yeah!" Max screams in delight as she continues to remain on the floor next to Superman. "Batman is going to get medieval on you, Dreg!"

Batman runs towards Smiley and delivers an uppercut blow to his head; the villain is thrown into the air and crashes down hard a few feet away. Before Mr. Smiley can react, Batman once again quickly manages to get a few sucker punches into the man as he is once again flung across to the other side of the room. The twin girls watching the brutal punishment from the hero give a gasp of worry as the look at each other.

"Er…This can't be good for us DeeDee."

"Indeed not DeeDee. But it will still be fun to watch." She says smiling.

Her sister agrees and gives a smile back. "Yeah! That is until he comes for us next."

Both of them suddenly drop into frowns as the thought of being taken out by Batman in that outfit frightens them.

"Sucks to be you." Max giggles.

With his smiling mask cracked and his clothes slightly torn, the beaten madman stands up and dusts himself off as the dark knight approaches slowly. As he stands before him, Batman's glowing green eyes peer down at the masked villain and raised his fist in the air as he prepares to give him one final hit.

"You're going to regret doing that, Terry." The smiling masked man says as he stands his ground.

"Life is full of them…forgive me if I don't mind making one more."

The massive fist strikes down at the man and sends him through the floor like a nail into a board. With in a second the grinning devil is gone from sight and can be heard crashing through several other floors down. Giving a nod at his handy work, Batman turns his body half quarter to target his next opponents, the twin clown girls.

"Uhm…DeeDee?" The one sister asks the other.

"Yeah?"

"I think it's time we thought about making an escape."

As the two girls chatted away with one another, Commissioner Maxine took the moment to take some action of her own. Swinging her bonded legs around, she manages to bring the twins to the floor and making them drop their dangerous weapons. Grunting and obviously still trying to recover from the deadly toxin still lingering in her system, Max still works up the strength to send a blow to each of them across the head. With both Joker girls knocked out, the policewoman flops on top of them and tries to regain her breath. Batman's shadow stood over her as she lay there and gazed up into the pulsating eyes over her savior.

"What took you so long to get here?" She jokingly stated.

"Sorry." Terry spoke in an electronic voice. "Had to pick up a few things before I left."

Max chuckled slightly and shook her head. "That's male heroes for ya…always late for a date."

As Batman reached down, his eyes met hers. "Well, we always arrive in style."

"Amen to that brother." She smiles back.

Just as he helps her rest back upon Superman, he starts to reach over to take off the device placed on the man of steel, when all of a sudden the dark knight feels a hand grabbing him and is flung back across the room. As Batman shatters through the wall, he re-emerges from out of it to see Mr. Smiley standing there in tattered and ripped clothing.

"This isn't over Batman…this party is just starting!"

"Back for more are ya?" Batman grunts. "This time…I'm going to make sure you stay down!"

The armored bat runs up to the awaiting foe and gives him every strong armed hit he can, the man takes the brunt of the punches, but instead of flinging around the room like last time, he seems to remain standing in his place. His head tilts and snaps back from the deadly blows Terry is forcing on him, something that puzzles the hero a great deal.

"This is impossible! Nobody could take punishment like this…unless…"

Smiley's hand rises up and manages to stop Batman's huge fist from striking him. Now came his turn as he grabbed both arms and pinned the hero back by nearly ripping them behind his back. Using his forehead, the masked smiling villain banged into the hard shell of costume and quickly dented Batman's metal cowl. Struggling to break free of the death grip of Smiley, Batman opened two ports on his wrists that shot sonic blast waves. The strong force caused the two combatants to rise from the floor and crash into the ceiling above. The debris came crashing down in the room, as did the two fighters as the blast quickly cut out. Now separated from one another, Batman leaped up and positioned himself a few meters away from Smiley's reach.

"Scared of me McGinnis?" The man says as he rises up from the debris. "I'm much stronger then you and certainly a lot faster. The suit may protect you for a while…but in the end…it will give in, just like you will."

"I don't know who…or what you are Mr. Smiley, but you should really stop calling me by my real name."

"Oh?" Smiley chuckles. "What's a matter, Terry? Don't like hearing your real name from someone that's figured you out? All those years of training with Wayne, your friend over there and the love of you're life at Smythe's engagement reception…you're a mess. You can't handle being the hero kid; you simply lack the knack for being one. That's why you fled all those years ago…that's why you're dumping Wayne Industries…that's why you never committed to you're precious Dana…you just haven't got the BALLS!"

Screaming in anger, Terry steps out of character and lunges at the man. His fists wildly swipe at the giggling devil as he back steps just out of reach of them making contact. The suit is too heavy for the young man to be agile; some of his kicking he now attempts is less then graceful. Each moment he spends more energy on taking out the individual, the more of a strain the power suit becomes on poor Terry. He can see why Bruce wasn't too keen on using it himself, seeing how it nearly gave him a heart attack trying to use the special mode. Now running out of steam, Batman stops in his tracks and takes a moment to catch his breath.

"Are you finished?" Smiley asks. "Good."

His hand reaches for the armored black cowl and rips into it with all of his strength. The sound of the metal twisting and tearing makes Terry gasp in fear. With in a matter of seconds, the evil man has exposed the hero's face as he gives one last strong tug and hurls the cowl away. With his face now totally exposed, Terry kicks away from the villain and ends up collapsing on the floor as the suit powers down from loss of energy.

"Face it Terry…you've lost. You should have took your own advice and never come back. Without Wayne your nothing…just a frightened punk that's trying to fill a pair of boots far too big to wear. And with you gone…the dark knight will finally and truly be dead!"

As McGinnis struggles to move or even get the suit to activate, Mr. Smiley stands over him and claps his hands over his head as he prepares to strike down the immobilized hero.

"Goodbye…Terry." The man calmly says.

Suddenly a blast of red laser beams come streaking out from behind the villain and strikes him down. As the man falls, Terry can now see Superman standing at a distance with Max throwing away the Kryptonite device that was attached to the man of steel.

"Mistake number one…"Superman grumbles. "Never try to kill my friends."

Smiley tries to stand up again and Superman speeds over with his fist striking the man and sending him to the wall. Smiley smacks against it and slumps down to the floor.

"Mistake number two…ticking me off."

Terry gives a smile at him as he reaches down give him a hand getting up.

"I suppose you think I owe you one now?"

"No…I think we're pretty much even." Superman smirks back at him.

Max walks over and gives Terry a hug as he finally stands up on his feet. He'd love to give her one back, but the suit is far too heavy for him to even make his arms move.

"Does this mean you're still staying in Gotham." She winks.

"Hey…what can I say? It's my kind of town." He sarcastically says back.

The trio soon hear the slight giggling of the madman as he continues to remain slumped against the wall.

"How…touching." The criminal boss muses. "But I'm afraid this moment will not last long."

Raising his head up slowly he reveals his face, as part of the mask breaks apart.

"Because you're dealing with someone that never likes to lose."

The three are shocked as they gaze upon his exposed features, Terry eyes lower as he removes the look of surprise and blurts out the obvious observation they've all witnessed.

"My god. He's a…a…robot?"

The split face of Mr. Smiley does indeed show his mechanical face underneath. A steel skull and an eye void of life stares back at them all with only a few small slits where his mouth should be. The mask's grin almost blends into his robotic features as the metal being begins to laugh in a most human fashion, the glow of the small red dot in the middle of his robotic eye flares as he gazes at them all.

"Surprised McGinnis?" Smiley chortles. "As I said before…the real Batman would have figured it all out by now."

Terry gave the mechanized terror a deep long gaze.

"I am Batman. And not to worry friend, I'll discover who you really are soon enough."

"You mean this isn't the real guy threatening Gotham?" Max says with confusion.

Superman carefully lets the commissioner hold Terry up as he walks over to the giggling robot and tries to use his x-ray vision.

"He's just a remote drone." Superman adds. "No doubt being controlled from the real Smiley somewhere in the city."

"Bingo Supes." The broken down robot says to him. "And to think that many of your nemesis believe you to be nothing to be all brawn and no brains."

As Superman scans the structure of the drone, he is frustrated at the fact that he cannot penetrate the metal body.

"Impossible!" The Kryptonian says out loud. "What's your game here Smiley? Why go to such lengths as to line this robot with lead?"

"Lead?" Terry says quietly to himself as he thinks.

The damaged robot struggles to operate its limbs as it tries to stand up, but with the many wires broken and gears busted inside, it can't even raise a few inches.

"Let's just say I don't want to ruin the rest of my surprise for you all. It's my last effort to bring about a smile before the day is done."

The robot slowly giggles again, each time his voice rises higher and higher in laughter; Superman stands there unimpressed with this odd behavior and remains still as he scowls at the villain. Terry still tries to work it out and then like a bolt of lightening striking him, he soon realizes what's in store for them all.

"We've got to get out of here now!"

Superman turns to look at him.

"What?"

"I was studying the layout of his bombing patterns in the batmobile…don't you get it? Every strike as been were Batman and Wayne have been, he's been waiting for all of us to be in this one place…he's the last bomb to go off!"

Max shares in the realization and gasps as she adds in more. "He wanted to beat you down and blow us all up…with Superman still strapped to the Kryptonite, he would have surely died as well."

"Can we figure this all out later?!" The man of steel shouts at them. "If you hadn't noticed the robot is going critical!"

The mechanical drone was laughing in a higher pitch and continuing to do so with each passing moment. As Superman grab the two of them, Max looked back over to the floor with concern.

"What about DeeDee?"

As they looked over, they noticed the twin ladies had disappeared from their resting place, it seems that the girls managed to slip out of sight while the others were busy confronting the Smiley robot. Superman wasted no more time and flew them out of the building as he crashed through the many floors of it. Just as he flew out of the roof, the robot inside finally exploded and caused the entire place to blow in a fiery spectacle. The force of the blast nearly caused Superman to spiral out of control, but continued to hold on to his two wounded friends as he regained his flight. Landing safely on a rooftop a few blocks away, the Kryptonian released them both from his grip and stood with them both as they watched the area go up in flames.

"This town really has changed since I left." Terry sarcastically admitted.

"Don't say I didn't tell you so." Max smirked.

The disgruntled Superman gives a soft sigh and folds his arms over with anger.

"Whoever he is, he knows about each of us and of our identities…more importantly, he's still in control of the Jokerz."

Terry finally begins to remove the damaged bat suit and shares in the unsettled thought.

"Which is why we've got to figure out his next game plan and stop him before he does any more harm. He might have won this round, but it cost him too much to risk doing anything like this too soon. Just one part out of many plans he has in store for Gotham and Batman."

Superman pats the young man's shoulder and smiles.

"Now you're starting to sound like Wayne. I'll be here to help you every step of the way Terry…count on it."

McGinnis looks at the strong hand of the hero resting on his shoulder and quickly smacks it off of him.

"No offense Clark…but this is my city, not yours. So do me a favor…don't come back here and let me handle this myself."

Recoiling in astonishment, Superman gives an odd look at Terry. He can see the dead seriousness in the young man's eyes and becomes slightly offended by his harsh words.

"And here I was thinking you'd be grateful to have me lending you a hand. Someone had to protect this city, Terry, you where taking too long trying to figure out which life you wanted to lead."

"Don't worry about it anymore Clark." He says turning his back on him. "I know full well on where I belong, on what to do and more importantly…who I am. So don't think I'm not grateful, but then again…don't assume I don't know how to be a protector."

Max watched the two men act stubborn at one another and rolled her eyes at them both. Superman slowly began to rise up into the air as he could see the young Batman heir no longer wanted him. As he started to make his way into the sky, he stopped and looked back at the two still gazing outward at the devastation. With a simple thought, the man of steel smirked at the young man and nodded.

"Just like old times…" He thought to himself. "Same cranky Bat, same untrusting manner…Terry is going to do fine."

The man of steel streaks into the sky and disappears as he thrusts into sonic speed. Now alone with Max, Terry holds onto himself as if he is cold and finally confesses to her about what finally made him decide to stay.

"You know Max, I was ready and willing to shed this whole nightmare away from myself. Having seen and done so much beyond this grim city, I finally felt as if I was destined for something better. It took a lot out of me to leave…Dana had been the focus of my whole life and Bruce…hell; he gave me the second chance no one else would have. I would have surely driven myself into that empty darkness long ago and probably would have ended up as one of those Joker thugs. But the one thing that kept me going all this time wasn't what I thought it was…I thought the answer was doing what everyone expected of me, but now…now I know what it is."

Max keeps at a distance from him and gazes over with curious look.

"Is it Dana? The love for her?"

"No." He sighs. "She and I…are over. I see that now, she loves Jason Smythe and the love we had is gone. No the one thing I'm talking about…is me. What I want to be, what I want to do with my life and what direction I choose to go in."

Max lowers her eyes in disappointment, as it wasn't the answer she'd hope it would be.

"I see…and what direction will you go next?"

Terry turns around and gives a devilish smile.

"To the point of no return…it's time to end one legacy and start a brand new one."

To Be Concluded in the next and final chapter! "**Dawn Of A New Beginning**"


	12. Dawn Of A New Beginning

Chapter Twelve – Dawn of a New Beginning

"Good Morning Gotham City! This Is GNN with the top stories of the day." The virtual female report announces as she appears with the sound of some background music.

As the woman's blue silhouetted image moves to the right of the screen, a video appears beside her of the police slapping on the cuffs of the remaining Jokerz at the hospital and in some of the streets as they try to run from the law.

"Gotham City was nearly over run by the Jokerz gang last night, as they destroyed numerous buildings including the Gotham Police Station. But that was soon thwarted by the authorities as they made their biggest move against the violent gang in what was said to be an 'all out war on crime'. Commissioner Maxine Gibson lead the police on the takedown and was not available for comment on how many gang members have been rounded up."

The virtual woman soon came off the screen and a male reporter now took her place as he switched to the left side with still image of Batman beside him.

"But this operation could not have been a success without the help of the returning defender of this city, Batman. Yes, it looks like the dark vigilante has decided to make a return to Gotham as he battles this uprising from the Jokerz. Where has he been for so long? Why is he cracking down on this violent gang now and not before he took an extended break? No one seems to have an answer to this riddle, but many of the police seem to welcome the explosive return of this hero."

The male reporter switches to the other side again, and shows a live shot of Jason Smythe heading down the stairs of the Powers building.

"In other news, Jason Smythe, President and C.E.O. of Powers Industries, has been keeping close to his hospitalized Fiancé, Dana Tan. They too were victims of the Jokerz wild attacks as their engagement party was disrupted and had many wounded. This statement was made just minutes ago from the concerned Powers employer."

The shot of Smythe now becomes full screen as the man steps up to the microphones and hovering cameras all pointing at him as he tries to speak.

"First off, I'd like to say that this horrible act of cowardess will not go unpunished. I will make it my mission to end this gang by any means necessary with whatever resources I have at my disposal. Secondly, I want to assure you that everyone is doing well and was treated, even my beautiful and lovely wife to be, Dana Tan. She is resting comfortably at Gotham General and I hope to have her home as soon as she is well enough."

In the crowd interviewing him, hundreds of voices all try to speak at him at once as they attempt to get their questions answered by him. One female voice rises above the others as she clearly gets his attention from her inquiry.

"What of Batman mister Symthe? It seems very timely for him to show up just after your party was attacked. Are you in league with the dark knight? Or in some way connected to his return?"

Jason becomes angry with the woman for suggesting it and quickly gives his answer back to her.

"I have no idea what you're talking about! I have no connection with that dangerous twit whatsoever. As far as I'm concerned this is his entire fault in the first place. If he hadn't been taking a vacation and leaving us all at the mercy of these criminals he helped to create…this city would be a lot better then it is now! He's a much a menace to this city as those responsible for nearly killing my Dana!"

He storms out beyond the cameras and is soon replaced with his personal assistant, Mr. Winters.

"Thank you all for your concern. This interview is now over, please direct your questions to the main office if you need any further information."

As the throng of reports tried to force him to say more, the image of it happening switches off and Terry McGinnis's face now sits in the reflection of what was obviously the television screen. As he steps away from the set, we now see that he is in a very large penthouse flat that looks very impressive and full of boxes he's been trying to unload. Flopping down on the dark blue, plush looking couch, he gives a sigh and stares of into the distance as he tries to relax. As he lies there, a soft yet familiar voice calls to him.

"Knock, Knock…"

Glancing over, he notices Max standing in the entrance doorway.

"Sorry to intrude, your door was still open. Mind if I come in?"

Terry stands up and walks over to her. The two smile and give each other a hug.

"Good to see you've got a clean bill of health." McGinnis says. "Wasn't sure if that Joker anti-toxin was still working at full strength."

Max pulls away and walks deeper into his new home. "Well, I'm fully checked out, so I guess it did. Wow! Is this your new digs?"

Terry nods and rubs the back of his neck. "Yep…Wayne never seems to do anything small scale. But I guess it's all in the life for this guy now…"

Max gazes around at the place and then focuses back on Terry.

"And what about Wayne Enterprises? You going to finish the merger or what?"

Terry puts his hands into his pockets and shrugs his shoulders.

"Up in the air for the time being. The next meeting of the shareholders has been pushed up to a few months from now. The whole fiasco with the Jokerz has got them a bit on edge and Jason Smythe as well, in fact he wants to hold it off until Dana is better."

"How is she by the way?" Max asks with sympathy. "Did you go see her?"

"No." Terry bluntly states. "I'm…I'm not the one she wants to see. She's got a new life now, a new man to take care of her…I'm just the guy she once dated, that's all."

"Aw, Terr…I'm sorry." Maxine says with compassion. "I know you guys had plans a long time ago, marriage, kids and the whole thing…something that everyone wants in their lives."

Terry walks over to one of wide steel blue cylindrical pillars built into the wall. The room has many such pillars, as they are all part of the inner design of this fancy penthouse he now lives in. He places his hand on the pillar and gives a command in his raspy Batman voice.

"Open…"

The cylinder swivels around and opens up to reveal a secret elevator with a white-lit floor and the black Bat symbol sitting over it. Max was amazed to see this and gawked at him with wonder.

"Yeah, well…she's taken that path with another guy, for me…this is where it all begins again. Wanna see what else the old man got me?"

Max nods and grins with delight. The two enter into the elevator and stand side by side as the column swings back to close. As the door clicks shut, the white light turns deep red and suddenly sends them down as it activates. Max gives a slight yelp from the feel of her gut being left up at the top, but soon manages to hold on to Terry's arm and giggles at the sensation.

"COOL!" She shouts. "How long will it take to get down?"

"Not long." Terry smiles.

The elevator slows down and quickly comes to a halt as the light inside turns white again, the black door in front of them swivels open to reveal Batman's new underground home.

"Welcome…to the Batcave." Terry voices again in his alternate persona.

Max ventures out of the two-person lift and marvels at the sheer size of the new cave. It is twice the size of the previous one, and has areas all around linked up with joining metal bridges and walkways. Sitting on a few shelved platforms built into the cavern walls was the Batmobile, an armored mecha-suit, the crime lab, medic center and a large super computer work area that houses a large flat screen. There was so much in this place that Maxine wasn't sure of where to look next, it housed so many areas that she thought she had entered an amusement park.

"Where did Wayne find this place?" She said inquisitively.

"He found it after the great Gotham earthquake, it's just below the city and has several points to come out or in from. Since Bruce was part of the rebuilding of Gotham, he managed to acquire this area and developed it as his possible secondary location."

"And he never used it?"

"Nope." Terry steps ahead of her and folds his arms as he too gazes at the new surroundings. "This was before his heart problems…once he ditched his costumed life he had no need for it anymore. So now it's mine, not too shabby huh?"

Max swats him on the back and chuckles. "You dreg! This is totally unbelievable! I mean just look at it…wow!"

Terry rubs his shoulder from her hit and giggles back.

"I knew you'd like it. That's why I brought you down here…"

Max loses her smile and now gives him a questionable look.

"Max…" Terry continues. "I don't want you to worry about me anymore. You're the police commissioner now and I think it's time we both take in the reality of what that means. My life will be filled with danger and loneliness now…I don't want to drag you down with me as I step into the darkness, I need you to be safe from all of this and the enemies that come with it. I need you to stay out of here and do what you have to do out there."

Max walks over to him and holds his face tenderly with both hands.

"Terr…I've got to say this. I'll always be safe with you around and no matter what comes….you know I can kick ass just as hard as you. But most of all Terry…I love you."

McGinnis's eyes flash with surprise and his face is frozen in awe, Max continues to study his face and strokes his cheek with affection.

"I've always loved you. We've been good friends for such a long time, we've shared one another's secrets and we've even put through hell together. I want you to know that I'm here for you….I'll always be here for you. The darkness that cosumed Bruce won't consume you…do you know why? Because I won't let it."

The two draw in closer to one anothers face and their lips almost come within contact, but Terry suddenly pulls away and steps back.

"No…no I can't Max."

"No? Why No?" She says to him with disappointment.

"I can't share that feeling you have…not yet. It's too soon after losing Dana…I'm not ready to love again, but I still need a friend…."

Max's eyes dim. "A friend."

Terry grips her shoulders tenderly and tips her head up to look at him again.

"Yes…a friend. Someone whom I've always come to rely on. Maybe someday…it can be more…but for now, I need to spread my wings and finish what Wayne started."

Max gave a sigh and nodded in agreement. "I understand…really I do. Not the best of timing on my part…but don't think that my heart will change. I love you and I will wait for you Terry…when you're ready, come let me know huh?"

McGinnis nods at her and the two hug as friends once again. As they end the embrace, Max notices the damaged Batsuit laying on the metal table behind them.

"Tell me you have a few others like those…"

Terry gives a sigh and walks over to the table. Gripping the technologically advanced costume, he rubs the torn area of where the cowl should be.

"I don't. Thank goodness that the back up memory core isn't in the head but in the entire fabric itself. I can still download the bat computer into the new one…but I'm afraid the suit itself is pretty much offline. Looks like it will be awhile before I can repair it."

Max takes hold of the suit and rubs the damaged spot with her fingers.

"He really did do a number on this didn't he? Too bad Bruce didn't make a back up for ya…or at least saved one of the costumes from the other cave."

Terry smirks and looks over beyond her.

"Who says I didn't?"

Max now quickly looks up at him and spins her head around to see what he is staring at. There sitting in a lone spotlight, incased in a cylindrical glass case is Bruce Wayne's original Bat costume. Her eyes light up as the sight is like a beacon of hope shinning high above on solitary platform in the batcave.

"I thought you didn't want to live in the past?" She says sarcatically.

"Well…every hero has to keep something to remind him of what started it all."

Max faces him again and touches his cheek with a soft stroke.

"Then suit up Batman…save my damn city!"

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

In a very eerily dark room, with pictures of Terry, Batman and all the people he is connected with are pinned all along the wall. A break in the dark room reveals a door sliding open and a figure stepping through it. The sounds inside the shadowy place are that of bubbling liquids, electronic beeping noises and the low hum of power pulsating. Stepping inward to the soft glow of green light near the center of the room, the figure is revealed to be that of Mr. Smiley. As he continues to walk in, the faint light shows a line of other robotic replicas of himself hiding in the shadows. Deactivated dolls that stand there as he glances at them all for just a few seconds. Finally stopping near the base of some steps, he kneels down on one leg and bows at the base of it.

"Speak." A whispered voice booms out at him.

"Everything went as planned, sir. You were right…he is going to be quite the challenge." Smiley announces coldly from behind his mask.

"Excellent…" The voice booms out again. "I told you he would pick up where Wayne left off."

"Indeed. I look forward to tormenting Batman and all those around him."

"Oh no, no, no…." The voice suddenly rises. "The others are of no concern. Batman is the real fun…it will be our task to push him to the limits of his abilities and then crush him when he least expects it. Save the others for when he's at his weakest…and then…drive him to insanity!"

Smiley raises his head and looks up to the person that is beyond view.

"You know what is best…as always. I shall do you proud…father."

"This is going to be the greatest fun I've ever had!" The voice says getting louder.

As Smiley continues to kneel, the hidden voice soon begins to chuckle slowly growing higher and higher in pitch. Then bursting out into a great evil laugh, the voice becomes loud and familiar. A laugh that once haunted the Dark Knight of previous years and one Gotham was sure to never hear of again.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

As the laughter continues, it hangs in the air over the city of Gotham, almost like a shadow of things to come. There, standing on one of the tall buildings in the center of this overly lit gloomy metropolis is Terry McGinnis, fully decked out in his suit of black and the red symbol of the bat standing out proudly on his chest. With no cowl on the suit anymore, his head remains exposed…that is until he unfolds one in his hands. Placing it over him, we see that it is the original cowl from Bruce's old suit. The white eyes that now peer out reveal the Batman in his completed ensemble. Unlike Terry's suit, where the mask completely covered his face and the ears standing up long, this one shows his bottom half of his face and the cowl's ears not as tall.

"A new beginning…a new Batman." Terry says in his thoughts.

"Go get'm, kid." Bruce's voice echoes in his mind one last time.

Diving out into the air, he unfurls his costumes bat wings and glides down into the city as if he had never left being the costumed hero in all this time.

END


End file.
